Reawakening: Of light and Darkness
by Writophrenic
Summary: Ichigo lost his soul reaper powers and has no memories of his time as a substitute shinigami. When a surge of spiritual energy tears a hole in the veils between the worlds, chaos erupts. A new evil makes its way to Karakura Town and threatens to open a gateway that should never be opened. Can Ichigo and his friends stop this unknown enemy before its too late?
1. Of bright lights and blue hair

**AUTHORS NOTE: I am glad that you clicked that link, means a lot. This is my first fanfiction guys so please read and review. You can flame if you want to (well if its your honest opinion) but constructive criticism is even better...like seriously. I write for the fun of it but it would be great to get some feedback. Follows would be awesome too (a girl can dream ****)**

**This story is set 17 months after Ichigo loses his soul reaper powers (so forget fullbring for now and) just read this for my take on what could have happened. WARNINGS include dark themes, violence, language (come on, its bleach fanfiction...sword fighting and blood has got to be a must). Its a cool story so give it a chance okay...**

**DISCLAIMER: I don't own BLEACH (but I did use it once to whiten a shirt)… characters belong to Tite Kubo (except OCs who will help with the plot).**

**Read and Leave me a review (good or bad)**

**~xoxo~**

"Rise and shine, Big Brother." Yuzu Kurosaki's sweet voice sounded in the household, "Get Up!"

The early morning light peered through the open window and a gentle cool breeze blew the curtains back and forth.

(ICHIGO KUROSAKI: 17 years old)

A bird chirped in a nearby tree and its melodious song sounded beautiful in the peaceful morning air.

(HAIR COLOR: Orange)

Car engines could be heard in the distance as the early risers and tax paying workers drove to their various work places.

(OCCUPATION: High School Student)

A young man with spiky orange hair and a character to match his fiery head lay on the soft warm bed near the open window. The sheets were ruffled carelessly around him and his right hand was resting casually on his forehead while the other dangled over the edge of the bed. The only indication that he was alive was the calm rise and fall of his naked chest.

(HE CANNOT SEE SPIRITS)

Early mornings sure were peaceful…or not.

"GOOOOD MOORNNINGGG ICHIIGOOO!" Isshin Kurosaki leapt onto the bed of his sleeping orange haired son. But of course the young lad had gotten so used to this kind of wakeup call that in the split of a second had uncovered himself and lifted his long legs and kicked his noisy father straight in the face.

The older man was hit midair and dropped to the ground in a heap of pain. He touched his nose and once he was sure that he was neither bleeding nor his nose broken, he smiled like the goofball that he was. He gave his son an enthusiastic thumb up and wore his smile proud.

"You are getting better at this Ichigo." Isshin said to the cross young lad on the bed.

"When will you stop it with that?!" Ichigo asked and slumped back onto his pillow. He did not understand his weird father and he was seriously tired of his over the top wakeup calls and always jumping out from corners and dark places.

"Get you butt out of bed, it's a beautiful day out there. And Yuzu has made a really tasty breakfast. Get up or I will bust in here again and this time you will get it." Ichigo's dad said and with that he left.

Why did he have to have such a crazy man for a dad? Sometimes he found it hard to believe that he was even a doctor.

"Still sleepy..." Ichigo mumbled as he passed his hands in his spiky unruly hair.

Ichigo's days really had become a total opposite of how they had been a year ago. Time had passed and to be specific…17months had passed since he had used Mugetsu.

Yes, 17months…

…that is how long it had been since Ichigo Kurosaki lost his Soul reaper powers along with any abilities to see hollows and other spiritual beings. 17 months since he last saw his soul society friends. 17 months since his once active and exciting life filled with Katana wielding, black-clad fighting bad asses had finally come to an abrupt end.

The worst part of it all was that he could not remember a thing.

There were no memories of his time in the Soul Society, no memories of his fight with Kenpachi Zaraki, his defeat of countless hollows, his battles in Hueco Mundo and his fight with the once seemingly kind and good hearted former Squad 5 captain Sosuke Aizen- who to everyone's dismay ended up betraying the whole soul society and taking with him hundreds of innocent lives.

No, according to Ichigo or at least Ichigo as he was now, magic and powers was the stuff manga and movies were made of. A week after he lost his powers, he had asked one favour and one favour only…to have his memory wiped of all things spiritual and soul society related.

At first none of his friends agreed to it or even wanted to consider it but in time they all just accepted it and tried to get where he was coming form. It pained Ichigo to remember the life he could have no longer and if he was going to live a normal life, he might as well have normal memories and normal beliefs about the world he lived in.

But as he was now, his life was just like that of any normal teenage boy. It involved getting up early in the morning and going to school. It involved running errands for his dad and hating every part of it.

Ichigo Kurosaki got out of bed that day and after taking a shower and munching down the delicious breakfast that his sweet sister Yuzu had prepared, he tried to prepare his mind for the day that was to follow. He tried to fix his spiky orange hair and got out of the house.

He started walking down the streets of Karakura Town, his school bag thrown over his shoulder and one hand in his pocket, thinking about nothing of importance and wondering why his life was so dull.

There had to be more to life. There had to be more excitement than Sunday night Ramen dinners with his family, Karaoke Saturdays that his weird dad forced on them all and the dreaded mandatory "Share how your week has been" Fridays.

It was all mind-numbingly boring and as he dragged his feet down the street getting closer to the school the thoughts just kept getting stronger.

Looking up past the gate, he saw Karakura High School and Ichigo sighed.

"Here we go again." He said to no one in particular.

He reached the school entrance and headed straight for the lockers.

Taking off his brown shoes to put on the required white shoes he was set for his first class of that day. As he looked around him the room looked completely deserted and a quick glance at his wrist watch just about confirmed his minor fear.

He was late. 30 minutes late to be exact.

Rushing to the classroom, he hoped this was not going to add fuel to the fire. Everybody already saw him as a delinquent, the last thing he needed was to be suspended or worse expelled.

No sooner had he opened the class door than an overly excited Keigo jumped straight for him.

"ICHIGOOOO!" Keigo shouted out. A beaming smile all over his face and arms stretched wide.

Before he could make contact, Ichigo swung his book filled bag and it landed straight for the assailants face. Keigo staggered back a bit and almost fell to the ground but years of this kind of response had made him somewhat an expert at taking the violent rejection.

This got everybody's attention and just made the girls in the class think of Keigo as an even bigger creep and weirdo than they already did.

The class was filled with murmurs and whispers as the girls talked amongst themselves.

"_He is so weird."_

"_What a freaking creep."_

"_He is always doing that stunt; can't he see Ichigo is too cool for him?"_

"_Imagine having such a boyfriend, gross."_

Keigo's best friend Mizuiro just shook his head and continued reading the latest Chapter of _Akame ga kill. _

"Ichigo, that hurt." Keigo finally said as he completely straightened up.

"Sorry dude, you came out of nowhere okay. I still can't get used to that." Ichigo explained.

"I understand. I have a cousin who was also molested as a kid, he hates being touched too" Said Keigo with a serious face. Something that people rarely saw.

"WHAT?!" Ichigo had to make sure he heard correctly.

"Mmmh" Keigo pretended not to have said anything. "Anyway I bet you are glad the teacher hasn't shown up today, huh? You are always late Ichigo."

"Yeah, what gives? Any ideas as to why she isn't here yet?" Ichigo asked as he hung his bag behind his chair and sat down. Wishing he was anywhere else and doing anything else.

"She probably just slept in today," a random voice said, "who would blame her? School is such a bore."

"Personally I love school," Chizuru's voice sounded and when Ichigo turned to look at her, he found her staring lustfully at the busty Orihime. The girl threw opened her arms wide and attempted to hug Orihime, but her plans were foiled as the ever protective Tatsuki pushed her away before she made contact. Ichigo just shook his head and looked out the window. He was so bored with it all.

Looking out the window he imagined a life where what he did mattered…a world where he was important and did memorable things.

"Ichigo…" Keigo said to the day dreaming boy in front of him.

"I am sorry…what?" Ichigo looked at the smiling Keigo.

"I was asking if you would rather choose a girl in a maid outfit or a magic girl outfit." Keigo said.

Ichigo did not even know how to respond to that question. His friend Keigo was always saying and asking the weirdest things.

"You are such a pervert Keigo." A girl said from the front of the class.

Keigo reddened as he looked around the class and saw that everyone was listening and now talking about him.

"Dude, you give us guys a bad name, you do know that right?"

This continued for some time and people just keep making their personal comments of Keigo's character. They all thought they knew him all too well.

The entire class was suddenly quieted down when a loud boom was heard outside.

Ichigo had been looking out the window when the explosion happened and all he saw what a massive ball of lighting hitting the side of the school away from their class.

"What the hell was that?" a boy asked as the entire class rushed to the window to see what had caused the ruckus.

Everybody became astounded as they looked outside to see part of the school wrecked like a thousand pound wrecking ball had just been swung into it. A bright light was seen coming through the clouds as tiny stray shooting star looking rays of light were projected in what appeared to be all the corners of the globe.

"I…I…Ich…Ich…Ichigo" Keigo stammered. "What do we do?"

The girls started screaming as one ball of light started coming straight for the window. This was probably going to be the end for them.

What a sadistic way to be killed. In school of all places. This seriously sucked for them.

"GET BACK!" Ichigo shouted. "EVERYBODY GET AWAY FROM THE WINDOWS!"

The whole lot of them backed away because whenever Ichigo was fired up, everybody listened. Getting as far away from the windows but still being unable to make it out the door due to the commotion, they were all trapped in the classroom, awaiting their doom; killed off by what could only be described as a piece of the sun.

As the light all kept coming closer, the girls' screaming became more frantic. Chizuru was in tears as she moved closer to Orihime, screaming and acting like a baby about to throw a tantrum.

"Orihime, I am scared." She wept as she hugged her friend from the back, her fear stricken trembling hands landing on her friend's breasts. She cried on Orihime's back as she got closer and held on tighter.

As Tatsuki looked at the happenings, she couldn't take it anymore as she walked over to the pair and pried the breast and back assailing Chizuru from the easily accepting and sometimes naïve Orihime.

"That's enough Chizuru. Can't you see that she can hardly breath, calm down we are all freaking out." She said, standing between the two girls.

From then on an eerie silence was in the classroom as the ball of light made contact with the window. The class became filled with screams and shrieks as glass shattered everywhere. Everyone faced the opposite wall as glass shards came right for them. As they all screamed and the light engulfed them, almost blinding those who had kept their eyes open briefly, a ringing sound was heard by all as they covered their ears. It was all they could do to keep the deafening and piecing ring from driving them mad.

Blood started oozing out of their noses, ears and for some in their eyes as the ringing and light become their own version of a torturous hell.

The ringing got louder and louder and the blood trickled from their noses some more. They all held their hands tighter to their heads hoping that it would somehow dull out the noise. Hoping that it would all stop, but it did not. It only got worse as time passed and the pained groans and screams in the classroom become even louder.

Then one by one, they started dropping to the floor, drained, defeated and possibly done for.

After a while when the light had vanished, some of the classmates started coming to. Disoriented¸ a bit dehydrated and feeling like they had survived being kicked by horses and then being run over by a train.

Ichigo was the first to gain consciousness and as he looked down at his bloody school uniform, he felt a power he did not know course through his veins and he knew deep down that what had happened was going to change life as they knew it.

"Is everyone okay?" he asked.

For those that were up - the responses where as ridiculous as the events that had led to them being on the floor in the first place

"My head feels like someone had put my brain in a blender."

"I feel like someone hit me in the stomach with a sledge hammer."

"Did someone kick me in the balls?"

"I can't feel my face."

"Why am I covered in so much blood?"

"Eww"

For a bunch of people who were crying and almost pissing in their pants a while ago, they sure were acting silly now.

"Good, so we are all alive."

"Not all of us." Tatsuki said, sorrow in her voice as she held a classmate in her arms. As the unmoving cold hand of her classmate fell to the floor a feeling of horror was felt by all those who were alive.

A lot more people had died than lived. They lay on the floor, unmoving and lifeless, reminding those that were alive just how fleeting life is. Looking at the bloody floor that had been their once white classroom floor, they saw the limp bleeding bodies of some of their dead classmates and tears filled their eyes.

A melancholy vibe swept through the classroom as they remembered how only 30 minutes ago, they had been one happy class room of friends. In as much as they were all happy to have survived, they were sadder that some of their friends had not.

Ichigo and his friends looked on and most did not know how to react to it all. The world outside as they knew it was gradually transforming into a nightmare. The sky darkened and masked beasts started making their way into the world of the living.

There was no time to mourn the dead as a growl was heard outside the shattered window. Outside, looking and hovering in the air was a black and scaly winged beast with a white mask and long talons that could maul an elephant to death in two seconds. Razor sharp teeth that could easily tear flesh from bone and rip a person limb from limb could also easily be seen. It was like a beast straight out of hell. A total monstrosity. It's one goal was to devour the souls of those unlucky enough to be in its path.

It growled again as it spread its long bat like wings and flapped them once. The effect of this was a strong gust of air being blown into the open window and reaching the scared classmates inside.

"This is not happening." Keigo said. Fear clearly being heard and felt in his voice.

"Well unless we are all high on that light that knocked us out earlier and are now hallucinating, I can testify that thing out there is real and is definitely going to kill us one by one." Tatsuki said.

"Over my dead body!" Came Ichigo's voice, the wind from the outside coming through the window and blowing his orange hair and white now partially bloody shirt as if to just show all that he meant business "we are all going to get out of this alive, mark my words." One look at the glassy and bloody floor made him clench his hands into tight fists he almost drew blood.

"Ichigo don't." Orihime pleaded with him because she knew more than anyone that the carrot topped delinquent always acted recklessly.

As he started walking towards the winged beast, determination and resolve his driving force he knew he had to do something. Too many had died already; he was going to risk it all now, even his very life to save those that he could. That was just who he was. A fighter…a savior…a hero.

He didn't know what he was going to do but he had to try.

Before he could reach his destination, the beast gave a pained growl as it dissipated right in front of their faces. In the next instant a black kimono wearing female jumped through the window and with twin curved swords in her hands, gave a flick of her head to keep a stray shiny and silky blue lock of hair that had been on her face.

Ichigo did not understand what had just happened. There were more masked beasts appearing in the school grounds and the once blue sky looked dark and menacing.

"Are you losers just going to keep gaping at me or will you give me a hand. Its pandemonium out there and those hollows are not going to kill themselves." She said, her piercing blue eyes moving from one confused highschooler to the next until finally landing on Ichigo.

She looked at him longer than appropriate and then she smirked.

~xoxo~

**Thoughts?**

10


	2. Of massacres and crappy weapons

If ever there was a time to take charge and be the man, now was it.

As Ichigo looked at the daring and somewhat attractive female in the Kimono with the twin swords, two things went through his mind

One- Who the hell was she?

And two, where on earth had she come from?

The alarming sound of another explosion outside snapped Ichigo back to reality. The light in the sky had all but completely disappeared and due to all the explosions and fires outside, the environment had become a heated and smoky nightmare.

Ichigo sensed a change in the air. It felt hard to breath and he hated it.

Looking out he could see more of the same winged beasts flying around the sky and some that resembled snakes, spiders and other vicious and hideous creatures crawling and moving around the school grounds. The one thing they all had in common were the white masks that covered their faces.

"What the hell are those things?" Ichigo asked, still finding it hard to comprehend what exactly was going on. The air felt dense and an evil aura surrounded it.

This was not normal. The pressure made it hard for him to even stand straight.

The stranger with the blue hair looked at Ichigo but did not answer. Now was not the time for a crash course in Hollows 101.

"We need to get going." The blue haired Soul reaper said as she faced the window and prepared to jump out. "Follow me."

"Excuse me what?" Tatsuki said. Her question mirrored on the faces of all the other students as the realization of what the female expected of them hit.

"Are you crazy?" a confused Ichigo asked.

The blue haired girl's eye twitched in annoyance. Ichigo did not care. What kinds of weirdoes jump out of a window anyway?

Most of their classmates had started running out as soon as the flying hollow was killed leaving behind Ichigo, Orihime, Tatsuki, Chizuru, Keigo and Mizuiro.

"Let's just get out of here." Chizuru said. The room they were in shook and plaster started to rain down.

Keigo and Mizuiro nodded in agreement. They prepared to walk out of the classroom. Being crushed to death was not how they wanted to leave this world.

"You are wasting your time going that side. There is nothing but fire and ash when you take that route. The window is your safest bet." The stranger said.

"No offense but we don't even know you. We will take our chances. " Ichigo replied.

"Listen to me," the Soul reaper said, anger being heard in her voice as she spoke "I did not fight my way through hundreds of hollows so I can play baby sitter to a bunch of scaredy-cats. Trust me on this you will all make the jump and…live."

To prove her point, she jumped out of the window to the ground and a few seconds later jumped back in without even breaking a sweat.

It looked simple enough.

"It's as easy as dismembering a hollow with a Zanpakutou." She said, a smile forming on her face.

When no one seemed to make the first move towards the window she could tell that none of them believed her. One would have to be crazy to trust a complete stranger.

"I can't really explain what is going on right now okay, mostly because we don't have time but what I can tell you for now, is that explosion…the light earlier, it was spiritual energy and it has affected you all somehow. You will be able to do things you were not able to do before. The most basic of all being that you can jump long distances. It sounds made up but trust me on this." She explained, "Now move your asses and get over here."

"Um…guys, maybe we should do what she says." Orihime said and looked at her friends.

They all shared a knowing look and Ichigo felt like he was missing something. Something that would make him want to believe the hakama wearing girl. Orihime looked at him next.

The look she gave him made him think that maybe they should at least consider it. Ichigo sighed. The room shook again and they all staggered.

"Okay, fine! Whatever." He said.

Ichigo took the first step forward. Someone had to.

The rest of the guys followed suit and also made it to the window. Mizuiro was quiet through it all, trying to process what was going on and thinking of ways that they could all get out of the mess alive.

"So who is going to make the first jump?" The Soul reaper asked.

Tatsuki was the first to get up the windowsill. Her short school skirt was blowing in the air and so were her black tresses.

"It seems I am the only one with guts here anyway." She said and then turned to smirk at Ichigo.

"What did you say?!" Ichigo answered, pumping his fist in her direction and a vein popped up on his forehead.

"You heard me…coward."

"Why you little-" Ichigo did not appreciate being called weak, especially by Tatsuki. It made him think of all the times she beat him when they used to go to the same dojo.

"Um guys, now is not the time to be doing this. Look." Orihime said as she pointed at a far wall. A crack was forming and getting larger. It looked that the room did not have long before it crumbled to the floor.

"Alright, alright…I am going." Tatsuki said.

"Just think of it as jumping off a chair and you will be fine." The Soul reaper said, "I will go down ahead of you so I can keep any stray hollows away from you." And then she jumped.

Tatsuki took a deep breath and prepared to follow her down.

"Be careful Tatsuki." Orihime said. She looked genuinely concerned.

Tatsuki just smiled at her best friend. And that was enough to comfort the busty Orihime.

Then she jumped.

As she dropped from the ledge, going down, her hair blowing in the wind-she thought to herself, '_I could get used to this._' Her feet made contact with the ground, easily and unhurt.

When the others saw how flawless it had all been, they all started jumping one after the other. First Chizuru, then Keigo followed by Mizuiro leaving Orihime and Ichigo last.

"It's your turn now.' Ichigo said to Orihime, helping her to the small window ledge and making sure that she did not cut herself accidentally on one of the pointy glass shards as they held on to the sides.

"Ichigo…" Orihime started to speak, a voice so low it was like she was speaking to herself. "In case we don't get out of this alive, I want you to…"

"Hey, don't think like that." He stopped her before she could finish, lightly squeezing her shoulder "We are going to get through this, whatever this is okay?"

Even as she listened to him comfort her, she still wanted to tell him, wanted him to at least know, to at least hear her say it…even just once.

"Ichigo I…"

"What are you two doing up there?" a voice came from below them and at that moment Orihime knew now was not the time.

"Ichigo you idiot, if you let Orihime stay up there any longer and she gets hurt I will beat you till you cry, you hear me!" Tatsuki's voice came.

"Shut up, we are coming!" Ichigo shouted back.

Ichigo relaxed once he saw that Orihime was preparing to jump.

"Go on. I will follow. Jump" Ichigo said, lightly egging her on and she jumped.

He followed her as soon as she was down and out of the way.

Only when he had touched the ground did he realize that the situation was worth than he had thought. There was smoke and dust in the air which made it not only hard to see but also to breath. There were more kimono wearing fighters with different types of katana and other weapons-All of them killing off one masked monster after the next.

If this was Armageddon, then it was definitely going to be "_survival of the greatest bad ass_".

"This is beyond crazy." Ichigo commented.

There was no time to stand in awe of the fighting bunch because there was a hollow headed straight for them. And as none of them were in possession of any weapons at the moment, they were all about as useful as bathing suits in a desert.

Ichigo tried to stand in front of the gang in an attempt to protect them.

The wolf-hollow stood at almost twice Ichigo's height. Its large paws imprinting on the ground as it ran towards them. It howled and growled and shook its large masked head from side to side as it covered the distance between them. The large white teeth in its mouth were ready to rip flesh from bone. Ichigo felt powerless. How was he going to stand up to such a large beast?

The Blue haired Soul reaper switched into battle mode and made a mad dash towards the oncoming hollow. She leapt into the air and swung her right arm with full force aiming for the hollow's mask. The hollow dodged and her weapon missed.

"Crap." She muttered as her feet made contact with the ground. She balanced herself and made sure her feet gripped the ground well and good.

The hollow swung its large paw straight for her but she ducked and somersaulted out of the way. She found her footing on the ground again and prepared to make her second attack. She held her twin swords tightly and crouched to the ground.

Ichigo looked on at how she was fighting. The smile on her face was making him think she loved to fight. In some sadistic way she was enjoying it.

The wolf hollow howled and leapt towards her. The soul reaper did the same. The two met midair. The hollow had its claws out and ready to tear her to shreds. She was not fazed. She had her sharp blades ready to finish the job too. Her curved sword made contact and the hollow used its arm to block.

Its limb was cut off and the hollow growled. This particular action angered it more and it became murderous.

The soul reaper smiled.

From where Ichigo stood he felt the aura get even darker and it repulsed him. He almost dropped to the ground as he took in its evil presence.

"What is this intense feeling?" he asked no one in particular.

The blue haired soul reaper had her back to Ichigo and his friends now but they could still sense her resolve to finish the job. The other kimono wearing fighters were also determined to kill off every last one of the masked creatures and Ichigo wished he could help.

"This ends now!" she professed. The hollow with a missing limb growled.

Faster than Ichigo could see, she moved, jumped in the air and swung her weapon once with full force. This time, the curved blade in her right hand made contact with the beast's head. The blade ran straight through and cut the beast in half.

She spun in the air once and landed on the ground in a low crouch, her twin swords crossed above her head. The hollow dissipated behind her. Its evil presence felt no longer.

"Split their mask and head in two and the evil bastards die." She said and straightened up. She dusted herself off and then turned to face the gang.

"Who the hell are you?" Ichigo asked.

She swung both blades in the air simultaneously, "That isn't important at the moment," she looked up in the sky as a flying hollow was within their range, "but the name is Misaki. Misaki Sanada."

Ichigo looked at her and had more questions for her.

"This way," Keigo spoke up, "the sport's shed is this side. We are going to need some bats."

Of course there was no guarantee that they would even be able to kill a hollow but any weapon is better that being a useless sitting duck.

They all followed, with Misaki the Soul reaper killing any hollow that might come their way until they reached the shed. With the use of her sword and Soul reaper strength she managed to break the lock. With a wide range of sports tools at their disposal they only had to pick what they were all most comfortable with.

Tatsuki and Ichigo both picked a Bokken each as they were familiar with the use due to their kendo lessons and time spent in the dojo when they were younger. Keigo picked a metallic bat and so did Mizuiro. Orihime and Chizuru both felt defeated as they did not know what to pick. They finally settled for cricket bats and the gang made their way out of the shed.

What they found outside waiting for them could have made any one run for the hills. The shed was surrounded by hollows. The only thing that made it bearable was the fact that they were not very large in that the largest was just below 7 feet.

Instinctively Ichigo moved in front of the others, shielding them from what could possibly be a massacre. Tatsuki and Misaki both side stepped him and stood their ground. No way were they going to let him treat them like fragile eggs.

"How the hell do we split their heads with these crappy weapons?" Ichigo said.

"Now is not the time to be negative, Ichigo." Tatsuki said.

"She is right. Just make sure you hit them hard enough. Swung hard and wound them enough to dispatch them." Misaki provided.

Ichigo was still not convinced but he was going to go for it.

"Here goes nothing." Said Tatsuki as she took a deep breath and run straight for the hollow in front of her. The hollow had no time to react as she used all her strength to swing her Bokken and smashed its mask into pieces.

She recoiled as she saw what was underneath.

"Th-they are-" she backed away.

"You fool!" Misaki scolded her, "Don't let what's underneath deceive you. These monsters are not people anymore. Deal with them before they devour your soul."

Misaki side stepped a hollow that had lunged at her and swung her right arm to cut off its head.

"If you wanna survive this, you need to stop being weak." She looked at them all.

Running forward to deal with more hollows she left them to their thoughts.

Keigo and Mizuiro looked at each other, and nodded as the next moment they were both charging towards the hollows, screaming and hitting hollow after hollow. They hit so hard that that it was just enough to harm the hollows.

As Ichigo looked on, wanting to get in on the action but also having a feeling of responsibility not to leave Orihime and Chizuru alone-Feeling protective but also useless as the choice between going to join the hollow extermination and remaining to keep the two safe almost drove him mad.

"Damn it!" he swore.

A loud rumbling noise behind him zapped him to action when a huge hollow on all fours, with claws and standing at over 12 feet tall smashed the shed, leaving only rubble and ruin.

Avoiding the assault of its claw, he pushed the girls out of the way and then leapt into the air. As Misaki was preoccupied at that moment it was up to Ichigo to deal with this vermin.

He held on to the weapon in his hands, if he can even call it that, and hoped his will to fight and win would be enough to make him the victor.

Ichigo was aiming for its head…right in the middle. If he stood a chance he had to at least put in enough strength to lunge and spear his Bokken deep enough and pull at it until the hollow was fatally wounded.

He had to put everything he had in this.

Knowing what Ichigo intended to do, the hollow moved its head and Ichigo ended up making contact with its neck. The Bokken hardly grazed the large beast. Using this as a time for a counter attack, the gigantic hollow pushed Ichigo away like a fly with only the flick of its giant paw.

"Ichigo!" he heard Orihime's voice as he flew in the air.

The force, with which he hit the ground, pushed him right across the school ground and the roughness of it tore at his back. The side of his face was bloody and he found it hard to see through all the blood gushing down his eye. Part of his forehead was badly cut.

He coughed once and blood splattered out.

"Damn it!" he tried to get up but the wind had been knocked out of him. He ached all over. He needed time to get over the trauma that his human body had just gone through. Adrenaline would not help him now.

More blood seeped out of his mouth and his body was in more pain than it already had been. Without paying attention to the others, the hollow made its way to where Ichigo had fallen, intent on finishing the job.

It growled once and the ground shook. As it walked towards Ichigo, the intensity with which it took one step after the other could be felt by Ichigo as he lay bleeding on the ground.

With his head still spinning and feeling a bit unsettled, Ichigo could not master the power to get up and defend himself. Any second the hollow would reach him and probably eat him, if it didn't just stomp the life out of him instead.

Before death could befall the orange haired former substitute soul reaper the hollow was stopped by a Soul reaper with the most peculiar weapon. The smoke and dust in the air made it hard to tell who it was. One thing Ichigo was sure of was that this was not Misaki. With its body cut in half, the hollow was gone.

As the dust settled and smoke cleared up it was easier to see where the hollow had been now stood a rather attractive specimen of man. With his signature red hair blowing in the wind and the tattoos on his body so vivid and clearly pronounced he swung his strange looking weapon in the air once. The weapon he had looked longer when Ichigo first saw it but after swinging it, it recoiled back to the red haired soul reaper and reattached to look somewhat normal.

"Long time no see, huh Ichigo?" he spoke. "I never imagined I would be saving your butt this early on in the game."

He turned to face Ichigo, a look of both remorse and happiness of his face. The tattooed soul reaper stood and placed his weapon casually on his shoulder.

"Oh, how the mighty have fallen." Renji Abarai shook his head, a scowl formed on his face intensifying the features on his face. With no warning at all he kicked Ichigo hard…without even holding back.

Ichigo winced.

"What the hell?" the bruised Ichigo spoke through his pain. "You basta-"

"Get your ass up Ichigo…now is not the time to be a lazy bum. If Rukia could see you now, I bet she would punch some sense into you and I would only be too glad to help her out. You look pitiful."

Ichigo looked at the stranger standing over him and he knew if he didn't get up, all hell would break loose. The red haired fighter did not look like he was joking.

This day was not going well.

And who the hell was Rukia?

~xoxo~

**I would really appreciate your review of this…even if you are not following it. PMs are welcome too. **

10


	3. Of Crabs and damsels

The unmistakable metallic tang of blood in his mouth was overwhelming Ichigo as he lay drained and defeated on the ashy ground. The smoke in the air was making breathing harder and harder with each passing moment. And the earsplitting growls, howls, and screams, and screeches all around him were enough to drive anyone insane.

It was chaos everywhere he faced and as he lay in ash, looking up at the sky, his untucked school shirt now bloody and ripped had gone up a bit-showing a hint of his manly ripped stomach, and his head throbbed like it was about to split open…Ichigo had never felt more useless and more powerless in all of his life.

"Hey Ichigo, I said get your ass off the ground." Renji spoke again, kicking Ichigo once for emphasis.

"Hey watch it"

Ichigo winced as Renji's foot made contact with the side of his chest, obviously in more pain than he cared to admit. He needed to pull himself together. To somehow draw out more power and strength from his feeble human body than was possible at the moment.

Getting his body off the ground and standing beside his red haired kicker, Ichigo wiped the blood that was dripping from his eyebrow down to his chin.

"Kick me again and you will regret it," Ichigo threatened, "and how the hell do you know my name?" he asked looking suspiciously at Renji.

"What are you t-," Renji started to say then remembered as soon as he saw the look on his friends face., "oh yeah, you had your mind fucked by that mad scientist."

"What?"

"Nothing," Renji said, brushing it off, "now is not the time for that…for now we need to get out of here."

With all the hollows within the school grounds finished off, it was at that moment that Orihime came running towards then. Ichigo could clearly see the worry on her face.

"Ichigo," she said breathlessly, "are you alright?"

"I am fine." He lied. No point in telling her that he was in a hell of pain, standing was a daunting task, breathing even harder.

Getting a white, clean hanky from her pocket, she proceeded to wiping the blood that had once again trickled down his face, past his eye making it hard for him to see.

As she dabbed the blood from his face, making sure not to put too much pressure on the cut above his eyebrow Renji kept looking at the whole scene with a look of utter enjoyment on his face.

Ichigo saw this and slowly lifted his hand and took hold of Orihime's. Orihime stiffened. He held her soft feminine hanky holding hand to his face for a second before moving it away entirely.

"Hey Carrot-top," Misaki's voice interrupted, "now is not the time to be playing Romeo and Juliet. In case you have forgotten, the world of the living is slowly about to become the world of the dead."

Orihime reddened.

Ichigo let go of her hand, turned to face the red haired badass. Renji winked, a stupid look on his face that had 'way to go you sly dog you' written all over it and at that moment Ichigo wanted nothing more than to punch the tattoos right off Renji's teasing face.

Once the other four students had made their way to them, there were some serious questions that needed to be asked. Everyone wanted answers but no one was willing to spill anything yet.

"Now what?" Tatsuki asked, her tomboyish demeanor fitting right in with the dark and smoky school grounds.

"I need to check on my family." Ichigo said, picking up his fallen Bokken.

"Good idea," Misaki said, "I am coming with you."

"So am I" Renji added.

Not wanting to make a big deal out of nothing, Ichigo remained silent and nodded his head instead.

Orihime not wanting to be alone also decided to go with them while Chizuru, Keigo, Mizuiro and Tatsuki all needed to check on their own families too. With the way the school was at the moment, how sure could they be that the beasts hadn't made their way to the rest of Karakura town?

Ichigo turned away and started heading home.

After two steps he turned, a look of worry on his face, "Hey, be careful." He said to the friends he was about to part with. "If you encounter those monsters, don't engage them unless absolute necessary."

"Ichigo," Keigo ran towards him, tears forming in his eyes and with arms stretched wide. Extending the Bokken, Ichigo was able to keep the inappropriate hugger at a Bokken's length.

Keigo frowned and almost crumbled to the ground. Even during an apocalypse he was not going to get any love from the orange haired former substitute soul reaper.

No surprise there.

"Let's go." Ichigo said to his companions and they started walking away.

Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoxox

After running in silence for a while and realizing most of Karakura town had been under the same attack as the school, Ichigo needed some answers. He had to know what was going on.

The world doesn't suddenly become hell on earth without a sinister reason behind it and Ichigo was determined to find out what it was.

"So, are you people going to tell me what the hell is going on now or what?" Ichigo finally asked.

"Honestly I don't know exactly either buddy." Renji answered.

"All I know is that there was a large explosion at The Department of Research and Development and a strange spiritual energy busted out man. It somehow ripped a hole in the veils between the worlds and in less than 10 minutes the soul society was teeming with hollows. A report from Urahara warned us that the world of the living was also likely to be under attack too, so a bunch of us were sent off to protect this town."

Ichigo could not make head or tail of what he was hearing. Hollows, Shinigami and veils, where these people crazy?

A scream in an alley close by got their attention. Ichigo was the first to make the turn toward where the noise had come from.

"Hey Ichigo, wait." Renji called after him.

Ichigo continued to run, intent of saving whoever the screamer was. For a man like him, some habits where hard to get rid of.

Being a savior and a protector was who he was. Looking out for the weak and defenseless was what he did.

Without even caring about the situation he was about to be confronted with, Ichigo charged forward.

When he finally reached the alley, he set his sight on a giant black crab monster six legs and two huge pincers. The crab had cornered a young lady. The scared lady was in tears, frantically trying to keep the giant beast away.

From where Ichigo stood, panting and barely staying on his wobbly legs he could clearly see that the masked crab was toying with the female. Clearly playing with his victims before devouring them was his sick sadistic way of having fun.

It made Ichigo murderous and the sheer wrongness of the situation angered him so much it fueled his weak body enough for him to make a believable fighter's stance.

"Hey, fish breath," Ichigo shouted, his anger clearly heard and felt.

The crab turned and faced Ichigo, the girl dangling by her ankle in one of its pincers, her skirt riding down to her face exposing her panties. This enraged Ichigo. He hated it when women where disrespected.

"Why don't you pick on someone your own size? Ichigo said, his teeth gritting in rage.

The masked hollow, arched his head slightly taking in the whole of Ichigo. Then a diabolical laugh erupted from the crab-His jagged teeth shinning in the afternoon sun.

"Little human brat thinks he can play the hero, hm." The crab said in a calm husky voice.

Ichigo was too upset that he was called a brat that he did not even mind or fathom that the crab had just spoken. As the rest of the gang made their way to his side with Orihime slightly behind Ichigo new this beast would not make it out of the situation alive.

"Let her go." Ichigo threatened, gripping the Bokken tighter in his hands.

Another evil laugh was heard as the crab looked at Ichigo's weapon.

"Do you really think you can take me on, me, Takaashigani, with your little play thing?" he said as he swung the now unconscious girl in the air.

"This delicious smelling bitch is mine." Takaashigani the crab said, his long tongue protruding out and passing over his pointy teeth and foul mouth before proceeding to lick the girl from head to leg.

"I can taste the fear in her sweat," The crab said with an almost orgasmic face, "she will taste even sweeter now."

Ichigo stood his ground, unfazed by its sick revelation. Making sure not let it get to him so much that it affected his fighting.

"I am going to kill you, you sick twisted bastard." Ichigo said and he meant every.

The crab, Takaashigani sneered, "Ooh I am really scared now."

Then in a teasing voice mimicking a scared little girl Takaashigani added, "little orange boy with a tooth pick is going to kill me-Someone, anyone save me."

"I SAID LET HER GO."

Ichigo's blood boiled and he firmly planted his feet on the ground readying for a full frontal assault of the perverted monster crab.

Ichigo then leapt into the air, murderous intent radiating from him. Takaashigani dodged Ichigo's forward attack.

"I never devour anything with a dick," Takaashigani the crab said, "so you, I am just going to kill for the fun of it."

The crab tossed the girl away, forgotten for a second. Before she could hit her head on the wall, Renji caught her and settled her safely on the ground away from the fight.

"That soft bitch will be inside me at the end of all this. Keep her safe for me until then, okay Shinigami scum?" Takaashigani spat.

Ichigo jumped high again, his Bokken at the ready.

Takaashigani did not dodge this time; instead he stretched out his left pincer and caught Ichigo mid-air. Ichigo flinched, his body reaching its limit for the amount of pain it could handle.

"Get crushed." Takaashigani the crab said then squeezed hard-His pincer digging deep into Ichigo's sides. Blood started gushing and dripping to the ground-Draining the life out of Ichigo.

Renji and Misaki both hurdled to Ichigo's aid but where both swatted away before they could even call upon their Shikai.

Ichigo knew the end was near for him with each squeeze of the crab's pincer and as he looked down at Orihime's tear-filled eyes and scared face he knew he had to save himself somehow. He did not know how but he needed to live, needed to be stronger.

Screaming out in frustration and a will to be strong and defeat this foe, a red blinding light started exuding from Ichigo's body. He did not have time to question what was going on because in the next instant, Takaashigani the crab's pincer was melted off and as the rest of the crabs body dissolved away, Ichigo dropped, grunting as his feet hit solid ground.

All that remained of Takaashigani was the hollow mask that Ichigo walked over to and crushed with his feet.

Renji and the girls looked on in bewilderment.

"What the hell did you just do?" Renji asked.

Before Ichigo could even say anything, an intense mind shattering pain suddenly struck him in his head and he almost screamed out. He could hear a resounding ringing in his ears and it made him gnash his teeth. Dropping to his knees and gripping his head, he let out a pained groan.

"Hey Ichigo, are you okay." Renji approached him-Placing a concerned hand on his writhing friends shoulder. "Ichigo, hey Ichigo talk to me."

The more time passed the more pain Ichigo felt. His entire body felt hot with the pain and he writhed on the cold hard ground. Ichigo felt like his blood was literally boiling and as if someone was trying to liquefy him from the inside out, melting his skin off with acid and he writhed some more. Groaning loudly like a wounded beast.

The smell of brimstone filled the air around him and he could feel the warmth of the crimson liquid drip from his nose. He could taste its distinctive iron-like aftertaste in his mouth and it repulsed him.

He wanted to retch, he needed to breathe. His lungs were not getting enough air. A part of him thought he was going to die, suffocating and chocking on his own boiling blood.

Ichigo looked down at his bloody hands, from his vantage point they appeared to be vibrating; the ringing in his ear getting louder and louder it drove him almost mad-making him want to rip off his own ears with his bare hands.

Anything…he thought. He could do anything to make it stop. Anything was better than what he was feeling.

The pain.

The burning.

The torturous hell.

The last thing he registered as darkness consumed him, as his eyes shut involuntary and his mind got foggy was the dusty tarred street and the distant sound of Renji's voice asking him what was wrong.

And then as suddenly as the pain had started, as inevitable as death to a living thing, Ichigo lost all consciousness and all he knew from then onwards was the darkness that shrouded his senses.

Xoxoxoxoxo

A/N hey guys. Just a quick thanks to the sweethearts that read my bleach fic and even follow it. If you have read this far, let me know your thoughts. Honesty is key.


	4. Of naked torsos and weird foods

Chatter and whispers, footsteps and a distant sound of sliding doors; these were the things Kurosaki Ichigo first heard as he slowly started opening his eyes. Slowly gaining consciousness and coming out of the dark void he was instinctively thrown into, to escape the excruciating pain forced onto his weak human body.

With his mind still foggy and his eyesight barely able to make out where he was, in that moment Ichigo was as clueless as a newborn, merely an orange haired highschooler awakening from a long slumber. In that moment, he was simply enjoying the bliss that was ignorance, with no knowledge yet of the hell that was going on outside, no recollection yet of the horror he had experienced.

Yes, for a moment he was quite simply put…blissful. Ichigo was grateful for those precious minutes before he made any movements other than the calm rise and fall of his chest and the opening and closing of his heavy eyelids…still waiting for his eyesight to focus and readjust itself, so he could see the surroundings for what they were.

Reality has a way of forcing itself on everyone and when Ichigo shifted on the unfamiliar futon, reality struck and his tiny blissful bubble burst faster than he could say, 'oh shit'.

It all came back to him as the familiar pain in his ribs and stomach registered. He remembered everything; the blinding, glass-shattering bright light, the loud explosions, the deafening ringing in his ears, the death of his classmates and the masked monsters. Oh boy did he remember the monsters. Hollows they were called, he thought and an image of the foul mouthed crab came to mind.

The idyllic moment was past and then all he felt was dread, and sadness and panic as the thoughts of his family stalked his mind. He needed to see them. Make sure they were all safe, because all he could see was his weird father crying and acting like a total dweeb in the face of a hollow.

Opening his eyes completely and having the foreign ceiling stare back at him, a cool wet cloth on his forehead and the residual smell and taste of blood in his mouth, Ichigo tried to think of where he was.

It didn't look like a hospital and whether that was a good thing or a bad thing he could not for the life in him tell. The room he lay in looked like a traditional Japanese room because of the Fusuma he could see all around him. The wooden and paper sliding doors made him know for a fact that he was not in his own home. He was after all sleeping on the damn floor.

'Where the hell am I?' he thought.

Moving a bruised hand to his forehead to remove the wet cloth that rested there and then attempting to get up, Ichigo winced. Looking down at his abdomen he could see the bandages wrapped expertly around the whole expanse of his stomach. He remembered being squeezed almost to death as the large crab pincer dug into his flesh, and the memory of it alone made him cringe.

One of the doors suddenly slid open and a tall, lean-built man with messy and light blonde hair, wearing a striped dark green and white hat and traditional Japanese sandals walked in. Ichigo immediately recognized him as the owner of the Urahara Candy store his sister Yuzu liked so much.

"Good, you're finally awake." Urahara spoke.

Ichigo tried to sit up straight but flinched again as his stomach wounds felt stretched. Urahara saw the look of suppressed pain on Ichigo's face and quickly rushed to his side, trying to stop him from doing anything too hastily that might injure him further. Or possibly nullify the effort that was put into patching him up in the first place.

"Hey Ichigo," Urahara said, pushing Ichigo back on the bed.

"Don't push yourself too much. You are still pretty banged up."

"I am fine." Ichigo lied, forcing his way up in a sitting position.

"Is that so?" asked Urahara, one of his eyebrows rising in a questioning manner before he nudged Ichigo slightly on his bandaged chest.

Ichigo winced slightly and Urahara got his answer.

"Oh sure, you are definitely fine." Urahara shook his head, "Now is not the time to act macho."

"I need to get home…my family…I have to…" Ichigo said.

Panic returning, as it did each time he thought of his family from the second he saw the first flying beast outside the classroom window.

"Your family is fine; Renji went to check on them after he dropped you over." Urahara assured him, "besides your dad has it all covered on that front."

Ichigo almost laughed out loud when he heard the comment about his father. But his wounds wouldn't let him. Laughing would hurt too much.

"Clearly you do not know my father." He said.

Urahara smirked, obviously knowing more than he was letting on, "Yeah, clearly."

Ichigo could hear loud chatter in the next room and he could have sworn he heard the voice of Uryu. This day was getting weirder and weirder. In the next instant the room was filled up with concerned people.

Renji looked skeptically at Ichigo. The tattoos on his pectorals looking pronounced as he casually folded his arms and leaned against the wooden wall, one leg rested lazily against it.

Uryu was just glad the reckless teenager had not gotten himself killed.

Orihime's face was filled with relief and Ichigo could clearly see the puffiness of her now teary eyes. A lump formed in his throat and it made him feel somewhat guilty. She held in her hands a bowl of food that Ichigo prayed desperately was not meant for him.

He had just gained consciousness and the last thing he needed or could stomach was Orihime's cooking. The thought of it all, nearly took him right back under.

Urahara's shop assistants walked in with trays of tea and accompaniments and relief was all Ichigo could feel. Maybe there was a God after all.

"Hey Orange shortcake," Misaki said, interrupting his thoughts "good to have you back in the land of the living."

Her blue hair looked conspicuous and eye-catching as she entered the room. Immediately making sure her presence was not only known but felt.

"You had boobs here all worried about you." She smiled, grabbing Orihime by the shoulder and pulling her closer.

Orihime's face reddened and Ichigo felt something stir inside of him. Why was she suddenly affecting him so? He looked away quickly, hoping his face did not betray him.

"She even made something for you." Misaki added, indicating the bowl in Orihime's shaky hands. A devious smile formed on Misaki's face.

Oh crap.

So he wasn't wrong in thinking the bowl housed the concoction that was to be his meal. Could this day get any more torturous for him?

As Ichigo watched Orihime slowly walking over with the bowl, he felt much like a calf about to be sacrificed. His heart beat quickened and at that moment he thought he would much rather battle a hollow than eat what was about to be given to him.

"I-it's just some soup," she said, kneeling close to him and handing over the bowl.

As she looked at him, really looked at him; the subtle rise and fall of his naked and bandaged torso and his biceps begging to be touched, Orihime blushed and almost spilled the contents of the bowl all over the floor. Ichigo saw the way she stared at him and swallowed hard. He felt like he was on display. He couldn't have felt more exposed and more vulnerable than he did at that moment, if he was wearing a red, lacy thong.

He cleared his throat and reluctantly took the bowl from her. The whole room was silent with anticipation as everyone looked on like they were witnessing a sadistic execution of an innocent man.

"I planned on making chicken soup but thought it would be even better if I added some mint, egg yolk, squid, grated cheese and chocolate." She smiled sweetly, "The crunchy bits are pineapple. I ran out of roasted crickets."

'Why me?' Ichigo thought, but still ended up saying thank you. He was not going to act like a dick, even though he was totally thinking like one.

Desperately wanting the moment to pass, Ichigo nodded as Orihime moved back. He put the bowl down and turned to stare at Uryu as everyone except Renji, sat or kneeled on the floor.

"What are you doing here?" he asked.

"Urahara called me when he noticed that there was a strange occurrence in the Seireitei, so I skipped class and came here. Then when the hollows finally made it to Karakura town, I knew it was only a matter of time before you showed up here." Uryu said. Pushing his spectacles carefully up the bridge of his nose, in the manner Ichigo was so used to by now.

After much thought, Ichigo realized he was not supposed to be here himself in the first place. He was supposed to have woken up in his own home.

"More importantly why did you bring me here?" Ichigo switched his attention to Renji, hoping to finally get some answers. There was so much he did not understand. So much he needed clarity on.

"You passed out on the ground like Rangiku on a girl's night out. What was I supposed to do?" Renji asked, looking intently at Ichigo, "drag your almost-dead ass home?"

"Yes." Ichigo said flatly.

"Oh yeah, that would have worked out so great for you. As beat up, bleeding and writhing in pain as you were. I trusted Urahara knew what might have been happening to you. I doubt home was the best place for you in the condition you were in."

Ichigo remained quiet, knowing full well that the red haired Shinigami had a point.

"So what the hell is going on anyway?" Ichigo asked, ignoring the pain of his stomach as he shifted and looked at Urahara. "You look like you know something."

"Believe it or not Ichigo, I don't know everything." Urahara said, moving closer to the tray with the teacups and picking up one. He took a sip of the hot and sweet beverage as everyone waited for him to say something more.

Looking up over the cup and past his ridiculous hat, he moved his eyes from one expectant person to the next.

"What?" he asked, almost like he had forgotten that the world of the living as they knew it was in peril and only he could shed more light on how to save it.

"Really?" Renji spoke. Clearly not impressed with how Urahara was dismissing the question that Ichigo had asked.

"You are wasting your time Renji." A feminine voice came from behind where Renji was leaning. "Kisuke knows as much about what is going on as Ichigo knows about the art of seduction."

This had everyone snickering in the room except Ichigo who did not find it even remotely funny and Orihime who just faced down and blushed; fidgeting with her fingers.

A slender, dark-skinned woman of average height, with golden-colored eyes and purple hair worn in a ponytail entered the room. Everybody but Ichigo seemed to know her and he was sick of being the odd one out.

'Sup, Ichi-boy." She said, a seductive smile on her face, "Long time no see."

"Umm with all due respect, do I know you?" Ichigo asked, scratching his head in confusion.

"We really need to get you your memories back Ichigo." Renji said, "All this cluelessness is getting boring and if I might add, a major pain in the ass."

"You would know." Misaki added.

"What was that?" Renji moved from the wall and grabbed his Zanpakutou.

"Nothing," Misaki feigned innocence, "I said, I know right." She added; a sweet smile forming on her face.

Uryu just shook his head and Urahara kept drinking his tea while Orihime's eyes were transfixed on Ichigo…almost like she was studying him.

"Anyway," Yoruichi spoke, breaking the awkward silence, "from the Intel I have gathered so far, the explosion in the Soul Society did not only weaken the veil between the world of the living and the world of the dead, but it also released a strange spiritual energy. Whatever this spiritual energy is, it has somehow broken into this world and is affecting humans. It hasn't been more than a day but already I have seen people exhibiting strange powers and behaviors. We can conclude that as long as someone lived after being hit by that energy, their physiology will somehow be altered. So far I haven't witnessed any changes that are worrying but who knows what might come up in time."

Everyone in the room was listening attentively, making sure they understood everything. Renji was looking cautiously at Ichigo, remembering how he had dissolved a hollow in seconds without nothing more than…light.

"I guess that explains the magic show Ichigo put on earlier." Renji said.

"What do you mean?" Yoruichi asked, looking curiously at Renji, then at Ichigo and returning finally to Renji.

"NOTHING" Ichigo blurted out. "He doesn't mean anything. Right?" Giving Renji a look that said, 'keep your mouth shut, you blubber mouth.'

"Right." Renji said, not understanding what the big deal was.

"So what caused the explosion", asked Uryu.

"It is still not clear as at now. The people in at the Department of Research and Development claim they were not working on any research that would cause that massive release of the spiritual energy. According to Captain Kurotsuchi, the whole fiasco was some kind of terrorist attack. He is convinced the whole attack was planned out months before because he found traces of research on hollow souls and Arrancar and where they go when they are killed. There were also some bits and pieces of information about spiritual energy and its many uses. Everyone at the institute swears though, that none of them were working on any such research."

"What does that mean?" Misaki asked.

The others were just listening carefully, not knowing what to think or ask.

"Well whatever is going on is deeper than an explosion at the institute that's for sure." Yoruichi said. "If Kurotsuchi is right and this was a calculated attack, then we should all be wary because we don't know what their end game is or who they are exactly."

"That is true," Uryu spoke up, "it's kind of impossible defeating an enemy you do not know."

"W-well at least there are no more hollows so we should be thankful for that, right?" Orihime finally said something.

Her words made everyone hopeful that something was going right for now.

"Yeah, about that-" Yoruichi said, walking over to the tray that had biscuits and cookies on it and picking up one at random, "According to Kurotsuchi, the hollows will be attacking at specific time intervals. He calculated the time the next attack will happen. The veil will only be dropping at those times and during those times anyone can travel between the different worlds. We haven't seen the last of those masked bastards. They will swarm this town…more and bigger." She finished.

"Dammit," Renji cursed. And everyone couldn't agree more.

"Any idea when the next attack will be?" Uryu asked.

Yoruichi took a bite off her biscuit, she checked the watch on her wrist and smirked, "If I am not mistaken, it should be right about…..now."

The room got quiet as the walls and floors shook and a rumbling sound was heard outside. Everyone looked at each other and then at Ichigo and as Ichigo looked down at his wounded, bandaged up body all he could think was-

'FUCK!'

**Xoxo**

**Review?**


	5. Of hollows and zanpakutou

When people think of an apocalypse, they probably picture the world ending in fire or ice. One of those end-of-days occurrences where a great flood comes and sweeps everybody away or fire starts raining from the skies obliterating everything they know and hold dear- a real hellish sight and experience where none can escape. Their hope at that moment would be to die surrounded by the people they love and hopefully not die a naive virgin. That would be a bad way to go.

Well, so thought the busty, burnt-orange haired Orihime.

Orihime imagined the end of the world would be much like one of her twisted nightmares but only more menacing.

She pictured that flying cats with lasers and knee-high yellow boots would come from space and imprison the human race. At first humanity would fight back and hope to take back their planet but in less than a week the space cats would win.

Female humans would be experimented on and given cat ears and tails, making them first generation Neko girls. Then they would be bound and have pumps attached to their breasts…their purpose being only to serve as milk producers for the milk loving cats. The males on the other hand would be forced to battle each other for the sole purpose of entertaining the sadistic, evil and yet adorable cats. Those who were weak would be killed and the lucky ones survive for maybe a week or two.

Yes, for Orihime that was want she imagined the end of the world would be.

She didn't imagine it would be a hollow apocalypse, especially now that her life had gone back to being almost normal.

When Ichigo defeated Aizen and slowly started losing his spiritual powers, Orihime knew that the life of danger that she had become accustomed to would also slowly come to an end.

She always thought she couldn't bring anything to the table and that tore her up inside, down to her core. It made her feel small. The inadequacy and helplessness she felt became stronger with each encounter with a hollow…whether it was big or small.

Unlike Chad and Uryu who she thought were _gifted _with their powers, she was really just a hindrance and could only get in the way the few times that hollows attacked Karakura town after Ichigo's loss.

She was grateful and thankful for her _shun shun rikka _powers but when it came down to making an actual stand and attacking the masked monsters, she always felt powerless. It even became worse when all her hair clips were destroyed during a battle with one really powerful hollow that required the combined strength of both Chad and Uryu to be killed.

From then on she became about as useful to anyone as a scarf to a polar bear.

_Haha, that's a pretty cute picture though, she thought. A scarf-wearing bear, what color scarf would look good on it? Probably pink or blue…so cute._

For as long as Orihime could remember, Ichigo had always been there for her…protecting her, helping her. And in those years, whether by some cruel God or her own stupid heart, she developed feelings for him.

She loved everything about him; even his almost always scowling handsome face and the fact that he was completely oblivious to her feelings for him. It made her laugh how someone could be more clueless than her. To her, it was as unbelievable as it was heartbreaking.

Especially when it came to pretending that she was not jealous of his _friendship_ with Rukia. Of course she did love them both but she couldn't stop the pang of pain and jealousy that sometimes came over her when she saw the two of them together…seeming closer than her and Ichigo.

It all sucked some major hollow balls.

As she looked at Ichigo in that moment; his bandaged body, the look of total helplessness clearly seen on his face and the unmistakable trembling and almost body-shattering sensation that was indicating the presence of the hollows outside, Orihime wanted nothing more than to be the person that finally protected him.

If only she had a way. If only she were stronger.

The sound of Ichigo moving on the futon suddenly snapped her back to reality.

"Whoa, Ichigo what are you doing?" a concerned Uryu asked.

"What does it look like four-eyes? I am going out there." he tried to get up, pretending he wasn't in pain but really not fooling anyone.

"Like hell you are." Renji said, gripping Zabimaru in a way that could have frightened a lesser man. "You can barely stand, man. Stop acting tough and live to fight another day."

"And, coming from a reckless guy like Renji, that's saying something," Misaki teased.

"Shut up." Renji retorted, clearly not liking the reference.

"I'm going and that's all there is to it." Ichigo winced as he attempted to stand.

The look of pain could easily be seen on his face and this just infuriated his friends. He was always like this, trying to carry the weight of the whole world on his shoulders and his resolve of wanting to be a part of the fight did not really surprise anyone anymore.

"Okay, while you guys try to pump some sense in this beaten up human," Misaki said while indicating with her hand in Ichigo's direction, "I am leaving this –er…house. There are hollows out there that my Zanpakutou is just craving to slice into."

With that she started leaving, followed shortly by Uryu and Yoruichi.

Before Yoruichi completely disappeared behind the sliding doors, she gave a quick glance back at the people left in the room and winked at Urahara then ran off after Uryu and Misaki.

"What are we waiting for? We need to go save those people out there. Stop wasting time." Ichigo became enraged.

Renji walked over to Ichigo and almost hit him on the head in frustration before lightly dragging him back on the bed.

"Your stubbornness is pissing me off. Cut it out or so help me, I will kill you myself." Renji threatened.

"Let me go. I have to fight." Ichigo tried to fight back with the little strength that he had. It was all futile.

"ICHIGO KUROSAKI," Orihime started, Ichigo seeing her upset for the first time since he had known her kind of scared him a bit, "YOU WILL STAY IN THAT BED AND REST…EVEN IF I HAVE TO TIE YOU DOWN WITH CHAINS."

"Orihime…" Ichigo said, losing his fire and strength to go and join the fight.

Renji finally let him go as he dropped to the floor, the pain slowly reducing now that he was not pushing himself.

Urahara raised an eyebrow and then gave a half smile. He seemed to be pleased with the happenings. Finally putting down his tiny cup of tea, he readjusted his hat so his eyes could barely be seen beneath its brim and then cleared his throat.

"That is my queue to leave," he said, "Benihime needs to get in on the action too. You coming Renji?" he gave Renji a look that brought a smile to the red haired soul reaper face.

"Yeah" Renji said, right before he gave a discreet wink at Urahara.

Urahara's _shop assistants _got up and left too. This was one battle those three did not want to miss.

"Hey Orihime, make sure he stays still, okay," Renji said as he passed the big breasted Orihime, happy that she had mustered the courage to shout and scold the orange haired boy in bandages "and Ichigo, don't feel bad…time will come for you to fight but for now just stay here."

"Yeah, whatever." Ichigo said, sounding cross and disappointed at the same time. In frustration, his hands formed a fist so tight that the nails dug into his palms.

He gritted his teeth, feeling upset with himself for being so weak, so helpless…so human. He thought about his family, his goofball of a dad, sweet Yuzu and Karin who had grown up into quite the tough young lady and he almost screamed out in frustration.

How could he possibly save and protect anyone when he couldn't even protect himself? He looked up at the sweet and innocent face in front of him and he felt more anger towards himself. If one of those beasts somehow got in the house, how was he going to be there for Orihime in the state that he was in? He really was pitiful.

_Stupid wounds._

_Stupid weak human body._

_Damn it._

**xoxoxoxoxoxooxoxooxo**

When Renji left his wounded friend, he knew what was happening couldn't have been easy for Ichigo. He was after all a fighter just like him. And to be a fighter meant getting up, no matter how weak or beaten up one got…a fighter never backed down.

So to see Ichigo keeping away from a fight, even though it was the right thing to do kind of made Renji sad for his orange haired friend.

"He is going to be fine." Urahara finally said to Renji when he noticed how lost in thought he was.

"I know. There isn't much that can keep that stubborn human down. His resolve and strength always shocks me." Renji said as they reached the great battle filled outdoors.

This really was a hollow apocalypse.

The skies were full of open Garganta, so much that the once beautiful blue of it all was swallowed up into the dark cavities that now filled it. Hollows of all sizes and types were spewing out in such numbers that it looked like the available Shinigami could not take them all down.

"Yare Yare." Urahara said, thinking of how troublesome it was going to be. He was not in the mood for a serious fight.

Renji on the other hand couldn't have asked for a better day, he was getting fired up just thinking about the fights that were about to start. Practice makes perfect and ever since failing to help out with defeating Aizen, Renji made a promise to practice and become stronger so he can never lose a fight of that importance. Any opportunity to fight was welcome in his brawler's book because it meant practicing and perfecting his skills. He also had to be stronger so he could surpass his captain, Byakuya Kuchiki.

Looking up at all the hollows, he knew this was going to be one hell of work out.

"I am going to enjoy this." He said, a leer formed on his face and then he swiftly leapt into the air aiming straight for the first hollow in his way.

Renji unsheathed his Zanpakutou and uttered in a firm voice, "ROAR, ZABIMARU."

His Zanpakutou transformed from its katana state into its Shikai form. With the blades still attached, he was able to use it as a sword and slice the hollow in half.

From the corner of his eye he could see Misaki taking down one hollow after the other; the scimitars in her hands cutting down everything in their path. Her speed was an advantage for her. The hollows did not stand a chance.

Uryu was in the distance, firing arrow after arrow into the black cavities, killing any hollow planning to pass through before they even made it into the world of the living.

The Quincy was more powerful than people gave him credit for, Renji thought.

Yoruichi was as graceful as ever, with her lithe form and killer moves, the hollows in her path were all taken down. The purple haired badass had a knack for battle and her use of shunko was always deadly.

"Are you just going to keep staring at my ass or will you join the fight, Renji-boy?" Yoruichi teased, placing a hand on her bottom as she gave Renji a side glance then winked.

Renji blushed.

"I. Was. Not. Staring. At. Your. ass, you perverted cat transforming weirdo." The crimson haired soul reaper retorted, right before he extended his Zabimaru towards a two legged hollow on his left. The hollow was cut in two from top to bottom.

"Why not, are you gay?" Yoruichi said, then super sped to a hollow at a distance, "Shunko." The hollow was no more.

Uryu laughed from his vantage point, clearly enjoying how Renji was called gay.

"Oh, shut up. Why are you laughing, mr-I-sew-cute-dresses-like-a-fucking-pussy?" Renji fumed and started running to his right and cut the hollow in his way in half.

"Well at least I am not a mindless and reckless tattoo loving brawler like some people." Uryu gathered some more Reishi from the air and used it to his advantage. It enhanced his bow so that multiple arrows could be shot out and they spread out away from him, instantly killing the four hollows that were about to pass through the Garganta.

"SCREW YOU." Renji shouted as he ran forward. His target being the three hollows that had just come through the dark passage way and he had no problem finishing them off, one at a time.

Renji gave one quick look at Uryu's outfit. What was with his obsession with tight white pants? Dressed in tight skinny pants that Renji just assumed he sewed himself and the tight dress-like top that hung to his chest and became poofy on the hips and reached mid-thigh.

"And what the hell are you wearing even? You look like a total sissy."

"You are one to talk, mr-I-wear-expensive-sunglasses-to-compensate-for-my-tiny-.."

"Really guys? really?" Misaki finally said something once a hollow had dissipated after an unfortunate meeting with one of her scimitar. "You choose now to have this dick measuring contest? Okay you both have big ones, now concentrate on ridding this town of this vermin." She looked pretty serious, obviously not one to fool around during battles.

"You hear that, four eyes? Stop showing me your junk, now is not the time…plus we all know you are hung like a mouse." Renji teased with a huge smile on his handsome face.

Uryu switched his attention to Renji and aimed his bow and arrows at him. Then without even hesitating, he fired.

"What the f-" Renji started but stopped halfway through when the arrows went around him. He heard a pained growl behind him and was shocked to see a dying hollow.

_Shit, saved by the Quincy. Well I'll be damned._

"You were saying?" Uryu said, a smile forming at the corner of his lip. Clearly happy that he had one over the cocky bastard that was Renji. "You are welcome."

"You see what I mean?" Misaki offered, killing a huge beetle shaped hollow with…sand from her scimitar, "CONCENTRATE."

"Okay, okay…don't get your panties in a twist." Renji said.

"I don't wear panties." Misaki answered before running to the two hollows that had just entered the world of the living.

"You are so weird." Renji said, and then decided it was time to get serious again.

He dropped to the ground figuring it would be more helpful killing the hollows that were down than those in the sky. It wasn't safe letting them wonder in the streets where they could easily devour any unsuspecting citizen.

Two hollows appeared on either side of him, both large and aggressive looking. But then again all hollows had that feel about them.

The white one, with its mantis shaped body and a matching white skull-like mask on its face mindlessly charged for Renji first. With no thought or driving force behind it except to devour Renji's soul, the evil hollow ran at him with everything it had.

The other one on the other hand, with its furry black body and standing on all fours just stood there watching the fight with a look of enjoyment. Renji could see it in the corners of his perceptive Shinigami eyes but as it was not making a move towards him, he paid no mind to it at the moment.

Swinging Zabimaru towards the mantis hollow, it extended and stretched dangerously straight for the hollow. The hollow dodged the first attack but Renji quickly pulled his weapon back and started running towards the hollow, intent on ending this fight soon.

"Dodge this." Renji said. He jumped into the air and with super speed and expert precision he cut the hollow in half, from its masked head, past the hole on its chest and down to its stomach. The hollow dissipated and a smile formed on Renji's satisfied face.

Enough with all these small fries.

He needed a real opponent. Until recently, he had been comfortable with his progress but then he witnessed Ichigo melt a hollow with nothing more than an unexplained light from his body. From that moment he knew he had to get stronger, become more formidable. Ichigo wasn't going to be the more powerful one anymore.

"You seem pretty handy with that sword." A voice came from behind him.

Renji turned and faced the furry hollow. He did not want to have a conversation now. What he wanted was to fight. End of story. The sooner they can defeat this horde of hollows, the sooner they can return to soul society and figure out who was behind all this. Whoever was behind this was probably a powerful force to be reckoned with and Renji wanted to get a piece of that action.

"I hope you are going to be more of a challenge than your insect buddy." Renji said.

Planting his feet firmly on the ground and pointing Zabimaru towards the talking hollow, Renji hoped it would at least make this fight enjoyable for him.

"That mantis was a mindless fool." The hollow said and Renji smiled.

Renji extended his Zanpakutou but just as it was about to make contact, the hollow vanished into thin air before it could be cut and finished off. Renji couldn't pick up on its spiritual pressure at all and for a second he was dumbfounded until he sensed it right behind him.

The hollow reappeared behind the crimson haired soul reaper and swung its right long nailed paw straight for Renji's back. Renji quickly got out of the way and only got a minor graze that tore at his Shinigami attire. A second late and his back might have been scratched off clean.

"Nice reflexes." The hollow commented, "But how long can you keep it up." It said before disappearing again.

"Can you sense me?" it asked as it appeared above Renji's head. "Am I here?" it disappeared again, "Or am I here?" reappearing a few meters from him on the ground.

The hollow kept this up for a while, disappearing and reappearing at different places, each time taunting him and asking him if he can sense it. This infuriated Renji who was slowly losing his patience.

"KNOCK IT OFF AND FIGHT ME YOU HAIRY BASTARD." Renji shouted furiously, patience was not one of his virtues.

The hollow suddenly appeared above his head then quickly disappeared and showed up behind him. Renji was ready for it and hastily counter attacked by swinging his sword straight for its head, it extended and made instant contact.

"I am not going to fall for that again." He said as the hollow disappeared, this time symbolizing its death.

"Scream, Benihime." Renji heard Urahara say and as he looked up in the sky, he could see the destructive crimson-coloured energy blast flow out from Urahara's blade. It formed an arc as it headed straight for the hollows. All five hollows in its path were killed and Urahara made it look like a piece of cake.

With the Garganta closing up and no more hollows coming through, Renji knew the fighting was about to come to an end, well for now at least.

Looking around and seeing all the fighting Shinigami and hollows rampaging through town, the depressing cries and screams and smoke coming from all directions, Renji felt sick in his stomach.

What sick bastard was responsible for all this? What reason could there possibly be for dragging innocent people into this kind of living hell?

Karakura town was in enough mayhem and by then enough people had been hurt. The citizens where probably confused and scared for their lives as they could all see hollows all of a sudden. And with their loved ones in danger and some brutally murdered, Renji suddenly wanted all this to be over.

They needed to get to soul society…soon.

They needed to put an end to all of it.

**Xoxoxoxoxoxoxoxoox**

Ichigo Kurosaki sat on the futon on the floor feeling sorry for himself, and as Orihime sat opposite him, she could tell exactly what was going on in his mind. After all, she was also feeling like him.

"I'm sorry Orihime." Ichigo finally said. "I am sorry for being so weak."

"Ichigo…" Orihime said, looking worriedly at him.

"I can't save anyone," moving his right hand to trace the large expanse of his body that was covered in bandages, "why am I so weak?" he said through clenched teeth.

"Ichigo stop it. You are…"

"I am what? Useless? Helpless? Pathetic? I know…I can't even stand up now. How can I help anyone? If one of those things come, I want you to run Orihime…I want…"

Ichigo couldn't even finish his pathetic speech before Orihime's hand connected with his cheek. The slap shocked Ichigo so much that all he could do was stare at her.

Okay so he no longer had his Shinigami powers but that did not give him the right to act like a giant vagina. It did not give him the right to feel sorry for himself.

"Don't ever say that again, Ichigo." Orihime said, her eyes getting watery. "Don't ever say that. You have saved me more times than I can count; hell you have saved more people than I can count. You may not remember the good and brave things you did when you were a substitute soul reaper but I do."

"Orihime…"

"I was the one who was always weak, always needing you to save me but you, you fought more hollows and won battles with so many captains that you become a man to be revered. You risked your life once for a total stranger and did not even have any regrets about it. You are in this situation now because you push yourself too much. You always want to be the hero, the savior. Well for once Ichigo, why don't you just sit there? Rest for now and let someone take care of you for once."

She moved back to her original position as she did not trust herself to not shake him, hug him, kiss him, or anything to make him see sense.

Orihime knew that Ichigo could not remember any of that but it would be a cold day in hell before she forgot. He had done so much for her, for this town and even the soul society. A man like that should never look down on himself and it killed her that she could not help him more.

She really wished they could recover his memories soon. Maybe then he could find pride in the things he did, the people he saved. Maybe, just maybe, he wouldn't look so defeated.

The room they were in shook and rumbled and a loud growl was heard outside. A large hollow was probably being killed within the vicinity.

"What the hell is going on now?" Ichigo said, feeling infuriated at how they were not catching a break. It was one bad thing after the next.

What were next, fire breathing dragons?

There was another loud growl and the house shook more. The ceiling started coming down on them and Orihime knew they were not going to survive such a thing. Being covered under the rubble was not how she planned on dying.

"Ichigo, watch out!" She instinctively dove for him in the hope of shielding him from the oncoming danger and landed straight on his chest.

Ichigo winced in pain as the impact pushed him roughly on the bed, Orihime's gigantic breasts squished cozily on his bandaged chest and as he looked up his eyes widened in shock.

"Orihime…" he said, "How are you doing that?"

Orihime slowly lifted herself off of him and looked at his surprised face. If they were not about to be crushed, this could have been a dream come true for her. Being this close to Ichigo, her chest hovering over him in this seductive way and his lips within reaching and tempting distance, it was all like a dream come true. Well except for the fact that now was not the time, this moment would have been perfect.

She followed his eyes to where they were looking and as she looked above them, she also became just as shocked as him.

Above them and all around them was a bright purple light.

The two were safely cocooned inside an impenetrable force field. Its dome shape ensuring that all the rubble from the ceiling and the house did not harm them in anyway but instead piled up around them.

"What is happening?" Ichigo asked.

"I-I don't know." And she really didn't know.

The last time she had this kind of power was when she still had her hair pins, so how was this happening?

For the first time in a long time, Orihime felt useful.

"When I saw the roof coming down on you, I just wanted to protect you somehow…to help in any way I can."

"What the…" Ichigo started.

Orihime looked down at him and she saw a purple light seeping out through his bandages. It reminded her of the time in the street right before the evil crab dissolved.

Ichigo's forehead became wet with sweat; she could feel the heat being emitted from his body and it scared her. The look on his face changed and Orihime became worried that he was about to have another episode like the one he had after his battle with the crab.

Was he going to melt her too?

Is this how she was going to die?

Killed by the man she loves?

"Ichigo are you okay?" she asked, praying that she was wrong. She did not want to be dissolved.

"Orihime…." Ichigo said right before the light became brighter and the warmth washed all over Orihime. The light was so bright it blinded them both. She shut her eyes and hoped for the best.

Orihime heard a ringing in her ears and she prayed that Ichigo stayed safe. She wished for his survival in all of it…even though she was the one in danger of being melted. She wanted him to live.

_Be safe Ichigo…stay safe._

_Be…safe._

**Author's Note: **hey guys, so I know that this chapter didn't take us any closer to knowing who bombed the institute but I thought it necessary to write it. Those hollows needed to be taken care of…haha.

Well as usual, leave me a **REVIEW(if you have read this far)**, constructive criticism and all that jazz.


	6. Of scythes and cloaked men

**Authors Note: Sincere apologies for the VERY late update. I hope you enjoy this chapter, I enjoyed writing it. **

**And thanks for reading thus far ****. Leave me an honest review (did you like it, did you hate it?).**

~xoxo~

What goes on in a person's mind when they believe with absolute certainty that they are about to kill the person they care about? What twisted thoughts plague the mind of an accidental killer?

As Ichigo Kurosaki lay beneath his busty friend, an impenetrable barrier protecting them and the rubble from the smashed in roof falling down around them, all he could think of when the purple light started permeating from his bandaged chest was how he was going to live with himself if anything happened to Orihime because of him.

Ichigo wasn't the type of guy who could easily get over harming his friends. He saw himself as a self-appointed hero and protector of the weak. If someone was being bullied, he would step in and help them. When a stranger was being mugged, he was the kind of guy who ran after the perpetrator and punched their teeth out.

Yes, Ichigo Kurosaki was more a protector than a mindless killer. So when the purple light came with warmth that washed all over his torso, his mind went to a time when he felt that particular type of sensation and in that moment he started freaking out. He thought of how he had killed the crab…kill was an understatement, the crab was destroyed.

His forehead got sweaty and his heartbeat quickened, and when he looked into the beautiful, big eyes of the worried girl on top of him, he hoped he was wrong about what was about to happen.

"Orihime, Get away from me." He said as he attempted to get Orihime off of him and away from the danger that he thought he was about to put her in.

The light got brighter and Ichigo closed his eyes because the sheer brightness of it all almost blinded him. The warmth he was feeling in his chest moved to all the other parts of his body until the wonderful sensation was felt all over.

In the next instant Orihime lost consciousness and passed out on top of him. The blinding light was gone and the protective dome around them came down as quickly as it had gone up.

"Ichigo," Renji's voice came from behind the sliding door and a second later ran into the room. "Are you okay? I saw the roof caving in."

Ichigo turned his head to look Renji's way, a passed out Orihime still on top of him.

Misaki, Uryu, Yoruichi, Urahara and his assistants came in a second later. They studied the hole in the roof and then moved their eyes to where Ichigo lay.

Urahara shook his head as he looked at what was once his beautiful roof, subconsciously calculating how much or how long it would take to fix all of the damage.

"Yare yare," He said as he started walking towards Ichigo, maneuvering his way around the fallen rubble "whoever is behind this owes me a new roof."

The blue haired Shinigami on the other hand was enjoying the sight before her fairly well and the look she was giving Ichigo made his feel like some kind of sexual deviant. And he hated it.

"Oh, wow carrot top, we are out there killing hollows and you are in here making out with boobs." Misaki teased as soon as she saw the suspicious position that Ichigo and Orihime where in. "You even brought the house down…impressive."

"Oh, shut up and help me out here. And will you stop calling her _boobs_" Ichigo retorted, "She has a name and she passed out."

"That good, huh?" Misaki almost laughed.

"Do you ever stop? Just help me." Ichigo reddened. He didn't like what the weirdo was insinuating or the smile of both Renji's and Yoruichi's faces

He started to get up and cradled the unconscious girl in his arms, making sure not to let her fall to the floor.

Urahara walked all the way to Ichigo's side and knelt down. He helped move the orange haired girl off of Ichigo.

"What happened?" Urahara asked.

"I am not so sure," Ichigo scratched the back of his head, "the roof started coming down on us and she saved me with this weird barrier. I can't really explain it. Then some purple light started being emitted from my chest and I felt warmth. After that she just passed out."

"Hm," Urahara raised an eyebrow, "interesting."

He lifted the busty girl completely off the dirty floor and carried her easily in his arms.

"What? Can you help her?" Ichigo asked, standing up fully.

"I am certain she just needs to rest. She will be fine."

Renji quickly ran to Ichigo's side with the aim of helping his injured friend but to his surprise Ichigo was not flinching in pain or looked even remotely uncomfortable.

"The bruises on your body," Renji said, looking intently at his friend, "they are all gone."

It was in that moment that the orange haired, former substitute soul reaper realized that his body wasn't in any pain whatsoever. In fact, Ichigo felt better than he had felt in a long time. Looking down at his hands, Ichigo saw that they were not bruised at all. He moved his miraculously healed right hand to touch the top of his eyebrow and he felt no pain.

He removed the Band-Aid from the top of his eyebrow and beneath it was perfectly healed skin. For a moment he did not know what was going on. How was it possible that all the cuts and contusions on his body were gone?

The people in the room looked on in wonder.

Ichigo carefully but quickly started removing the bandages covering the whole expanse of his torso and as the last strip fell to the floor, joining the rest of its kind in a heap of white, Ichigo's eyes widened in bewilderment. His entire upper body was completely healed. There were no scratches, or cuts or deep wounds seen anymore. All that was left was his perfectly tanned and chiseled manly chest.

"Whoa." Misaki said as she looked at the half naked Ichigo in front of her. This made Ichigo feel so self-conscious that he wished he had any piece of clothing to cover up. "You heal quickly."

"Interesting." Urahara muttered again, as he carried the passed out Orihime out of the trashed room.

"Enough with the _interesting. _What the hell just happened?" Ichigo demanded as he followed the striped hat wearing Urahara.

"What is happening to me?"

Urahara kept on walking, Orihime snugly in his arms and only stopped when he was in the secure room away from the dusty and damaged one.

"Jinta," he said, calling out to the young red haired boy, "set up a futon for her."

Jinta proceeded to laying down the small mattress on the floor and as soon as he was done, the still unconscious Orihime was laid down.

The rest of the gang entered the room as soon enough the room was packed.

"Hey, answer me." Ichigo demanded.

He was so sick and tired of being out of the loop. When Orihime slapped him and told him all those things that he did, he almost broke down at how amazingly skilled she made him out to be. The way she talked about him and how he had saved so many people, it sounded more like he was hearing about a stranger. Someone he would wish to be. None of the things she told him made sense. She made him seem like a hero. She talked about him like he had actually helped stop a big catastrophe, and a part of him wanted that to be true. He wished he could remember even a fraction of that life. He wished to return to such a time, a time when he was strong and powerful and not so clueless.

If what the red haired and tattooed guy was telling him was true then somewhere out there, there was a person who could help him recover his lost memories. When that happened, Ichigo thought he could make sense of what was happening to the world. He hoped it would somehow make it all seem less confusing. Then maybe all this craziness would not overwhelm him so much. Then maybe, just maybe what Orihime said about him could be as true in his heart as he heard it in her voice.

His friend was unconscious and part of him was thinking it was his fault. He needed to get answers soon. He needed to know more about what was going on. He needed to find out who was behind all this, so he could beat him to kingdom come.

But for now, as he stood over the beautiful sleeping Orihime, with Renji resting lazily against the wall, his kimono stained with dried blood, Misaki looking at him curiously and Uryu kneeling on the floor next to Orihime, the one thing Ichigo wanted to do was to find out what was happening to him and his friends. Then as soon as that question was answered, he needed to run straight home and check on his family.

There was no way his goofball dad was handling all these monster attacks well and just the thought of it all was making Ichigo anxious, worried and scared. Karin might be a tough young lady now and had beaten up more bullies and guys than Ichigo kept count of but Yuzu was another case all together. Her sweet, innocent nature was something Ichigo did not want to lose. He did not want to think about how all this was affecting his little sisters. He wanted so bad to get home that second but he couldn't leave with all the questions still floating around in his head.

And the man who possibly had all the answers was acting like a total jackass and not saying anything and that just upset Ichigo more.

"Hey, Mr. Hat-and-Clogs, quit ignoring me and tell me what you know. What else have you figured out?" he demanded.

"Ha, haven't heard that one in a long time." Urahara smiled as he sat down crossing his legs in front of him.

"Anyway, you may not be aware of this now but Orihime hand magical hairpins, yeah I know that sounds weird and made up but it's true. But they got destroyed. However before her hairpins got destroyed, Orihime had the power to heal, much like she just did judging from your none existent wounds now. I am assuming that her ability has now manifested itself such that she can still do it even in the absence of the hairpins." Urahara explained.

"And the purple force field thing?"

"That was also one of her abilities."

Ichigo felt happy hearing that. He was glad to know that Orihime wasn't just the quiet timid girl with the over active imagination that everyone thought she was. She was not just kind and smelled of baked goods but was also capable of protecting her friends and as Ichigo touched his healed ribs he was grateful for that power.

No longer was he in pain.

He promised himself that when she gained consciousness, he would make it up to her. He would be there for her just like she had been there for him. Okay, so he did not have the power to produce a protective dome or heal injuries but whatever power he could muster, Ichigo vowed to use it to help rid the world of the evil and chaos that had seeped in.

Karakura town had always been a strange town but the way things were going now Ichigo felt it in his gut that the worst was yet to come. And on top of all that, he was not even closer to figuring out what his power -or curse depending on how one looks at it, was.

Yoruichi got up from where she was sitting and crossed her arms on her chest; she looked at Urahara and smiled. That small gesture making Ichigo wonder if there was something going on between the purple haired woman and the light blonde haired Urahara.

"Well, I have to go." The purple haired lithe woman said as she started walking towards the sliding doors.

"I have to investigate how the latest hollow attack has left the town and hopefully I can see how other humans have been affected by that surge of spiritual energy." She turned once just to have a final look at Urahara who was staring at her under the brim of his hat. "I will be back as soon as I have meaningful Intel. And hey if you do decide to go to the soul society and I am not yet back just start off without me."

"It's getting dark out there now, so be careful." Urahara said

She gave him a quick nod and a smirk "Keep an eye on the clock…they will attack again." and with that, she was gone.

"How long was I out?" Ichigo asked as he looked down at Orihime. He had to know when she was most likely to wake up.

Urahara had assured him she was going to be fine but that did not stop Ichigo from worrying about her.

"About 8 hours. But you suffered some major trauma. I doubt she is in the same boat as you. So don't worry. I think your bodies just need to get used to these new powers before the fainting can come to an end." Urahara said.

Too much time had passed and as much as he was worried about his family, he knew they were also equally worried about him, especially Yuzu. A part of him almost smiled when he thought about her slaving away in the kitchen, trying to prepare them dinner. She always enjoyed cooking and that thought made Ichigo happy. He also thought about his father diving straight for him as soon as he entered the front door and the lecture that would follow about being late for family dinner. A silly fight would erupt and his goofball dad would have his butt kicked.

"I have to pass by at home. Now that I can stand and walk, there is nothing hindering me from running there now." Ichigo said, not that he needed to explain himself to anyone. This was his family he was talking about after all.

"I will accompany you." Misaki said. This got the attention of everyone in the room, especially a surprised Ichigo who was wondering why she would want that. There were no more hollows in town now and though it was dark, it was nothing that Ichigo was not used to.

"That will not be necessary," Ichigo said, eying her suspiciously. He was not some baby in need of a sitter or some Shinigami body guard. "I am sure I will reach home okay on my own. Thanks"

"I insist." She said, "Besides I was not asking. So just live with it."

"I don't need a freaking body guard." Ichigo spoke out.

"And your point is?"

"I don't want you to come with me."

"Ha, if you are worried that boobs will read into this wrongly, don't. I am sure we will be back before sleeping beauty there wakes."

"STOP CALLING HER BOOBS." Ichigo said, "And it's not even that, I..."

"Hey, Ichigo man, just go with her. Otherwise you will keep going back and forth with her like that. She is a bit on the stubborn side."

Ichigo could see that. He did not have time for that so he just let it go. If she wanted to play Shinigami bodyguard then so be it.

As a shiver went through his body, he remembered he needed a shirt. The world was weird enough without him walking around Karakura town half naked.

"Where is my shirt?" he asked Urahara.

"In the trash. With all the damage and blood that shirt had, there was just no salvaging it."

"Okay, can you give me one of yours then?"

"You want one of my Japanese clothes? This will be something. We can be like twins." Urahara teased.

"Stop being weird and give me anything you have." Ichigo was getting irritated at all this time wasting.

"What about something of his," pointing to the red haired Jinta, "doesn't he have a vest or something I can borrow?"

Ichigo looked at the young lad seated next to the ever blushful Ururu. The two had grown up tremendously since the last time he came to buy candy with a young Yuzu. He could definitely fit in one of the boys vests. It would be better than donning one of Urahara's green kimono things.

"Oh damn it…why is it always me? First I was forced to live with that moocher," Jinta looked at his red haired former housemate and Renji almost lost it at still being called a moocher after all this time, "and now I have to give one of my clothes to the orange one."

But despite all that, the red haired boy got up and went passed the sliding doors. When he emerged a few minutes later he had in his hands a black piece of clothing.

"I love all the clothes after I got all these muscles," he indicated to the arms that were seen as he had on a black sleeveless shirt, "but this is one of my least loved. It is still a bad ass shirt though, so wear it with pride." He threw the item at Ichigo who swiftly caught it in his hand.

Ichigo immediately put on the black tee that clung to his body like a second skin. Each muscle on his upper body was well defined and stuck out, looking pronounced and accentuated by the tight muscle tee. Any other time and he wouldn't have worn such a thing. But in his situation he was desperate.

"Meh, I look better in it." Jinta said as he went to take the floor next to the bashful Ururu.

Now was not the time to be concentrating on clothes. The sooner he saw his family the sooner he could return and help figure out the bastard responsible for all this.

He looked at Orihime and a lump formed in his throat. If only he was stronger, she wouldn't have had to protect him and possibly hurt herself in the process. He really needed to stop thinking like this.

"Will you look after her for me?" Ichigo was looking Uryu's way.

"She is my friend too, Ichigo. You don't have to say it like that, like you are the only one who cares about her." Uryu sounded a bit offended.

"I didn't mean it the way it came out, okay?" Ichigo ran his hands through his orange hair. "This is all just too much for me."

"I get it. But you need to stop acting like you are the only one who is experiencing this."

Ichigo looked at his spectacled friend and he felt even worse. Through all this he hadn't even thought about how his friend was feeling. Orihime was Uryu's friend too after all. He needed to be more understanding and not act like this whole thing was only affecting him.

"I am sorry." He said to the spectacled Quincy and started to leave.

Ichigo suddenly remembered a friend he had not seen in school and all through the entire ordeal.

"Have you by any chance been in touch with chad?" he asked Uryu.

"No, I tried to call him when all this madness started but I couldn't reach him. I passed by his place when Urahara called me but there was no one home." Uryu saw the look on Ichigo's face and knew he had to reassure his worrying friend.

"Don't worry about Chad, Ichigo. He is more than capable of taking care of himself."

"I guess."

Ichigo still could not just shake it off. Something did not sit well with him. Chad was always with his phone and the phone were always on. In fact he walked around with spare batteries just in case. So for him to be unreachable, especially now, it made Ichigo feel all kinds of unease.

"Hey, Ichigo…" Renji called out to him, "don't do anything reckless out there." A concerned look was seen on the tattooed soul reaper's face, making his tattoos pop out even more.

"Yeah, yeah…I will try."

Ichigo had no memories of the tattooed redhead but still deep down in his gut, he felt like he knew him. He couldn't quite explain it but he just felt in his core. It was kind of like when you meet someone for the first time but still they appealed to you like an old friend. Call it déjà vu or a warped sense of reality but it still felt like he knew the guy. So maybe the bond of friendship that they shared was that strong because how else could he account for how the red haired Shinigami felt like a familiar stranger.

Ichigo needed to be home. He felt sweaty and grimy and until that moment he did not realize just how hungry he was. Then a thought came to his mind he cursed himself internally.

_Fuck me._

He remembered Orihime's _'chicken'_ soup.

_Crap. _

He didn't want to offend her feelings by not carrying it with him. The room might have been trashed beyond belief but he knew the bowl of soup was also safely protected from the falling ruin of the roof, just like him. It was probably resting by the mattress on the floor and Ichigo quickly made his way to the wrecked room. Misaki kept studying him, wondering what the hell he was doing but he didn't care. Orihime had taken her time cooking the evil soup and so the least he could do was take the bowl housing the atrocity with him. And if he mustered enough power, he was going to take a spoonful. Yes, he could taste a bit without dying couldn't he?

"What are we doing back here?" Misaki asked, then her face furrowed as she looked at Ichigo making his way towards the thin mattress on floor, his long legs jumping over fallen wood and maneuvering his way around the destruction on the once beautiful and clean floor.

Ichigo slowly picked up the bowl from exactly where he knew it would be resting and made his way back to the sliding doors. He looked at Misaki's face, with her ridiculous grin and the sparkle in her blue eyes and he wanted her to leave him alone. She was enjoying this a little too much at his expense and he hated it. Why did she always have to tease him? He knew she was going to say some far-fetched comment about him and Orihime and he subconsciously prepared his mind for it.

The blue haired girl in front of him probably couldn't understand the human emotions he was feeling. She probably didn't even have people she cared about. From the way she acted in the few times that Ichigo had seen her during one of battles with the masked monsters, if you can even call them battles…the girl never gave the evil bastards time to even fight back before she cut them down with her twin curved blades. From her battles Ichigo could tell that the only thing she cared about was winning.

To him, she seemed more like a cold, fight-loving person. With her smart comments and love of teasing everyone, it was clear to him that all she liked was confrontations and making fun of people.

"Oh, wow, you like boo…"

Ichigo looked menacingly at her and she stopped what she was planning on saying. He was seriously sick of that nickname. _Boobs? _Seriously?_ Boobs?_

"Enough with that stupid nickname!. "

Personally he did not pay any mind when people gave him silly nicknames with relation to his hair. Most people thought it was a delinquent move on his part to have it dyed that bright colour. Not that many people believed that hair colour existed naturally in the world. It had to be a form of rebellion on his part, or so they said.

He had heard so many nicknames that if he was a lesser person or cared what assholes and bullies thought, he would have dyed it black years ago. He would have become a brunette to fit in comfortably into the judgmental society he was born in. But he was proud of how he looked and the hair was part of him, so whatever people said or came up with to hurt his feelings about his hair, he just didn't give a damn.

Orihime on the other hand was different. He did not want her to go through the pain of being nicknamed _boobs._ That was just cruel on the blue-haired girl's part standing in front of him. He wanted Orihime to be known and acknowledged for something that wasn't as superficial and silly as the size of her breasts. She got enough crap from the guys in their school and he wanted it to stop. She deserved to be known for her kind nature and caring heart.

He imagined Orihime was the type of girl who would even try and help the people who planned to causing her harm. She was just that caring.

"Okay, Strawberry shortcake." she said, lifting up her feminine hands in a sign to show her surrender.

"You don't have to look at me all evil and all. I was just joking, come on." She still had the teasing grin on her face and even now her blue eyes sparkled.

"I don't see how you can joke in a time like this. In case you haven't noticed, people are dying and more will get hurt if we do not stop whoever is behind this. Where the hell is your humanity? I get that you are a death god but you seriously have to stop showing your lack of care for anyone or anything, especially around me. It's pissing me off." Ichigo said, his teeth gritting in his mouth. He did not mean to take it out on her like that, but she was acting a bit off and inhuman.

Ichigo saw Misaki step back, she looked hurt and Ichigo hated how it made him feel. Her smile faded from her face and a seriously, gloomy stare replaced it. Had he gone too far in trying to make her understand how he was feeling?

"Hey, I am sor…"

"It's okay,' she gave him a fake smile, "it's true I am just a Shinigami who doesn't care about anything. Let's get going."

Ichigo walked on passed her, the bowl still in his hands and he wished he hadn't made said it the way he had.

This was turning out to be one long messed up day.

~ xoxo~

"Where could he be?" Yuzu asked as she started setting the table.

It was a miracle that they were all still alive. She thought back to how the day had turned out. It had started like any normal day and she had gone to school, looking forward to seeing some of her friends.

Who would have guessed it would all turn out like this? What in the world was going on? And where had all those masked monsters come from?

When she was in school earlier during the day and the loud bang was heard which was followed by the bright and blinding light, she was sure she was going to die. Especially when the loud ringing in her ears started which made her bleed from her nose and then she passed out. From then on it had just gone from bad to worse after she gained consciousness and found the school grounds teeming with skull-masked monsters.

She knew that Ichigo and Karin could see ghosts, well Ichigo could not see them anymore, but that knowledge could not prepare her for the sight that she laid her eyes upon. The monsters where so hideous and scary that they could not even compare to the ones from one of Karin's horror movies.

For those minutes before the black kimono wearing saviours showed up, Yuzu was certain that she would not survive the day. When they showed up and started battling the masked beasts, a glimmer of hope started forming in her and Yuzu started believing that maybe there was a chance she could be saved. Some of her classmates were still passed out on the floor when her father suddenly ran into the classroom wearing a black kimono with a white tattered cloth secured on his arm.

This was the most serious that Yuzu had seen her father and for a second she almost didn't recognize him. Why was her father dressed and looking like a bad ass? Was he just a doctor by day and a secretive ninja at night? Yuzu was intrigued.

What the hell was the world coming to?

She was grateful that he had showed up when he did and was even more grateful once they were all safely in the comfort of their home. Karin came back an hour later with a bloody arm. Yuzu knew that her sister was a fighter enough that she must have engaged one of the masked monsters in a fight. She still did not like looking at her sister hurt, even though the cut near her shoulder wasn't that bad.

She had tried to call Ichigo on his cell and when he wasn't picking up after her five tries, she gave up for a while. She became upset with him when she found out that he had in fact left his phone in his room charging.

Her fear for what might have happened to him intensified over time. She had tried to keep her mind busy by concentrating on cooking but it had not helped at all and when the masked beasts attacked again, she almost lost it. Their father had gone out in his black outfit because he wanted to help defeat the monsters. The more hands that were available to finish them off, the less civilians would be hurt. He had returned as soon as all the monsters where done but there was still no sign of Ichigo.

_Where the hell was he?_

Yuzu had just finished putting the last plate of food on the table when, she heard the door handle turn. She quickly walked over to the front door, Karin following behind her and as soon as a head of orange peeped through the door, tears started forming in the twins' eyes.

They were not the type of family to be involved in hugs and sayings of _I love you's_ but in that moment none of that mattered. They ran into the arms of Ichigo who was just as surprised to be getting the hugs. He was glad that they were both fine and nothing bad had happened to them.

It felt good knowing that something good had happened that day.

When their mother died, Ichigo had felt such a loss. He did not want to feel that kind of pain and loss anytime soon and so he was happy that they were okay.

"Where the hell have you been you gigantic idiot?" Karin asked.

"It's a long story." Was all Ichigo could say.

He let go of them and looked around the house, happy to see that there were no fallen in roofs or smashed in walls. So the fights hadn't reached the house? That was good.

He kept on walking until the wonderful aroma of Yuzu's cooking reached his nose and he inhaled deeply. His stomach rumbled at the good smell and he was glad to be home.

The girls finally noticed the blue haired girl with him and it brought smiles to their faces. Of course they liked Orihime but they were glad that their weird brother was hanging out with more girls. There were times when they suspected Ichigo of not being into girls. The guy was good looking but had never had a girlfriend ever. It was sad.

"ICHIGOOOO!" his childish acting dad came running from upstairs and jumped straight for him. His father's hands where rolled up into fists and he was aiming straight for Ichigo's jaw.

Ichigo did not give him a chance to make contact because, he immediately ducked. He placed his right hand on the floor for support, held on to Orihime's bowl in his left hand and quickly lifted his left foot and dealt a kick to his goofy dad's stomach. The older man was pushed back as the contact of his son's foot with his empty stomach knocked the air right out of him.

He fell to the ground on both knees and started coughing, tears forming in his eyes as he put both hands on his stomach.

"That…hurt you…bastard." He said, wheezing as he spoke.

"It serves you right, why do you always have to act like that?" Ichigo said as he looked as his in-pain dad.

He was happy that the goof was also okay; how he had survived the hollow attack Ichigo did not know.

"How many times have I told you, there is no excuse good enough for you to come home late for dinner? Did you want to hurt Yuzu's feelings?" his father said as he stood up and straightened himself.

"No excuse good enough, huh? How about I almost died today?" Ichigo retorted.

"You would be in a body bag, for all I care and I would still expect you to get home in time for dinner idiot."

Ichigo just shook his head, "That doesn't even make sense old man. You are crazy."

Ichigo knew his father was just as glad to see him as he was. Their relationship was weird and why his father always liked surprising him and waking him up in these ridiculous ways was beyond his understanding. But over the years he had become so good that none of his father's surprise attacks ever caught him off guard.

"Whoa, Ichigo who is she?" his father asked as he set his sight on the attractive blue haired Shinigami.

Misaki was after all beautiful. With her light clear skin and the way the light hit her in the room, her blue hair seemed to glow. She had bright blue eyes that seemed to laugh and showed her teasing side but also showed that she covered up something secret in her. She had high cheekbones and a wide teasing smile with the most perfect teeth. In her Shinigami outfit, she looked somewhat unapproachable but, the cloth fit her perfectly and though she was not the luckiest woman in the breast department, her chest was enough to please any man.

Ichigo's father started moving closer to her but he was suddenly pulled back violently.

"Stop being a creep, aren't you like over a hundred years old?" Ichigo said.

"Ha, very funny because the joke is on you. Old age means more experience and the ladies dig dat."

Ichigo palmed his face and shook his head in disbelief, "Please tell me you did not just use the phrase _dig dat?_ You are so lame."

"Don't hate the player, hate the game." He put up a piece sign.

"Oh my god, stop…just stop, please." Karin was the one who finally said something.

Clearly their father was just making a fool of himself and that day had been bad enough already.

"I am Misaki by the way." She said, "It's great to meet you all."

"Like wise." Yuzu said with a sweet smile on her face. She liked the blue haired girl.

Karin looked at her too and just nodded in acknowledgement.

"Can we eat now? I am so hungry I could eat a hollow." Ichigo said.

"Gross," Misaki cringed, "you do know that is sick right? That's like some messed up form of cannibalism."

"Figure of speech, smarty pants…figure of speech."

Ichigo walked to the sink to wash his hands, Orihime's bowl still in his left hand.

"Why are you dressed like a contestant on Mr. Universe?" Karin asked when she looked at his tight black muscle tee.

"It's a long story."

"We have time." Yuzu provided.

Ichigo sighed; it had been a crazy day. He still had so many things to worry about and think about. But for now he was just going to enjoy the company of his family and be a good host to the blue eyed girl who had insisted on joining him.

~xoxo~

In the darkness of the night, as the cool breeze blew across the streets of Karakura town and the remnants of the battles that had taken place still fresh in the minds of many, a man stood on top of a power line, looking down at the world below…darkness and evil oozing out of him with each breath he took.

In his hand he held a large scythe with a skeletal snatch. Its bony appearance looked like it was made from the backbone of his unlucky enemies.

He was shrouded in the darkness of his black hooded attire and as the huge scythe he held in his gloved hand gleamed under the night's moon, his gaze was fixed on one household in particular.

As he looked on at the Kurosaki house, an ominous aura erupted from him and he knew soon the plan that he had spent most of his life on would become a reality.

He was going to rip this wretched world apart and cover it in darkness if it meant getting what he wanted.

No one was going to stand in his way and if they attempted to, his trusted scythe would make sure they did not stand long enough to ruin his plans.

17


	7. Of Psychos and awkward moments

Water helps us wash the filth and grime away and having a shower was all Ichigo could think of doing after his meal with the people he cared about. Dinner with his family had been exactly what Ichigo needed. It made him put things in perspective. He knew then more than ever just how much he had to be stronger. He had so much to fight for. He had so many people he needed to protect.

Apart from his family, he had friends who he would do anything for. As he thought about how one of them was unconscious on the floor of a candy store, Ichigo almost punched a hole in the tiled bathroom wall that his hands were placed against. His head was placed lazily beneath the showerhead and the warm water was falling down on him, massaging his overworked muscles.

He cared about Orihime, probably even more than he cared to admit. And that was what bothered him even more; the fact that he cared about her and yet was unable to protect her.

Ichigo gently switched off the shower and as the last drop of water touched his already wet head, he moved the shower curtain aside, reached for the towel and prepared to head back to his room. He leisurely dried off his orange tresses, looked at his messy and dusty school trousers on the bathroom floor and dreaded dressing up in them even if it was just for his walk back to his room.

The rest of the family was probably still downstairs and Misaki was hopefully helping Yuzu with the dishes, so he imagined it would be okay to just cover his lower body in the towel he had in his hands. Ichigo walked back to his room and as he heard voices downstairs he slowly entered the sanctuary that was his room.

"WHAT THE HELL?" Ichigo's voice was thick annoyance and shock as he found a blue haired Shinigami sitting comfortably on his bed.

Didn't the female know of this little thing called _boundaries?_

"What?" Misaki looked him over from his wet hair, past his toned glistening bare chest and down to his toes in black house slippers.

"What are you doing in here? Why aren't you down stairs waiting for me?" Ichigo looked at her; wondering just what it would take for her to know an uncomfortable situation if she saw one.

"Um, I was not going to remain down there with your creepy dad lurking around. No offence." She said as she looked intently at her nails, completely ignoring his fuming face.

"Put some clothes on. I am getting some weird thoughts about this situation and something tells me you would not appreciate it if I acted upon them." Misaki looked at him like a total tease and then burst out in laughter when Ichigo's face reddened.

"You are incorrigible." He said as he walked over to his closet, opened it and got out a white plain tee, blue button up shirt and black faded jeans.

He turned and looked challengingly at the blue haired fighter on his bed, threw the jeans on the chair next to his bed and draped the blue shirt on his shoulder.

"Do you mind?" he said.

"What?" she said, then just shook her head as she turned away from him and moved closer to the open window. "It's not like its anything I have never seen."

"Yeah, well I don't care about the many adventures that your eyes have had or the unmentionables they have seen, so just keep staring out that window." Ichigo said as he put on his clothes.

It could take a hundred years but there was no way he would ever understand the blue haired girl. She acted like no girl he had ever met. His sister Karin was a tomboy but the girl in front of him took it to the max.

"I can feel your eyes piercing my skull." Misaki said.

She shifted on the bed and Ichigo saw her tense up. She recoiled and for a second Ichigo thought there was a hollow about to attack the house.

"What's wrong?" he asked, concerned.

In two strides he quickly walked over to the bed and looked outside.

"It's nothing." Misaki reassured him, "I thought I saw something. Must have just been my imagination."

Ichigo was not convinced and so he kept looking out and hoped she was right. The last thing he wanted was a fight to erupt near his family. Once he was satisfied, Ichigo moved away from the window.

He planned on walking toward the chair next to his desk when he suddenly got light headed and almost staggered to the floor. Ichigo then felt a sharp pain in his head and as he lowered his body to the chair his head pounded some more.

Misaki saw how he had acted and felt concerned.

"Hey, are you okay?" she asked.

"Yeah," Ichigo lied, "it's just a slight headache."

"Yeah, you don't fool me." She looked at him and saw the pain he was in.

Misaki reached her hands for the front of her Shinigami attire and hesitated for a bit before she pulled out a small pouch attached to a string.

She opened it and got out one small white, oval pill. Misaki shifted on the bed and got closer to the edge until her legs were touching the ground. She looked at him intently and hesitated again before stretching out her hand to him.

"Here." She said as she handed Ichigo the white pill. "This might help."

"I am not taking anything that came out from the front of your clothes. Plus I am not a fan of drugs." Straining his eyes as the pain was making it hard for him to open them fully.

"Don't be a creep. The pouch doesn't even touch my boobs." She said.

"It doesn't matter, who knows what that thing will do to me. I have seen your character and I can't trust any drugs coming from you." Ichigo told her.

For all he knew that pill was some kind of psychotropic drug that would mess with him so bad that he would probably wake up 5 days later in Tokyo and married to a man. One thing Ichigo promised himself never to try was drugs.

"Really, do you trust me that little?" She looked at him innocently as she made a fake hurt face, "Ouch Orange, you wound me." Misaki placed her free hand on her chest to show exactly where he had hurt her.

His head pounded some more and Ichigo closed his eyes as he tried not to think of the pain.

"Hey I am just trying to help. It's just a pain killer."

She started moving the pill away from Ichigo when he didn't immediately get it.

"Fine." He grabbed the pill and quickly popped it in his open mouth. He thought better a mind boggling pill than the hammering headache he was feeling.

Ichigo couldn't understand how it was possible but as soon as he swallowed the pill, his pounding head stopped paining and a sort of serene feeling washed all over him.

She smiled at him when she saw the look of wonder written all over his face.

"Why didn't you give me this miracle pill when I was covered in bandages and feeling like I had survived being hit by a speeding train?" Ichigo looked suspiciously at Misaki.

"I am the fourth seat of squad 11 and it would be a freaking cold day in hell before I admitted to taking pain killers. People would think I am weak." She said, looking seriously at him.

"And on that note, you best keep this a secret or I will beat you up so hard that you will forget you own name. Understand?"

The look on her face told Ichigo that she was serious. It was a look that said '_don't mess with me'_ and he believed it.

"Cool, I understand. You can remove that psycho stare from your face."

Misaki immediately relaxed her face and gave him a sweet smile, it almost creeped him out. He just couldn't read her. She gave out two different vibes whenever she talked or fought. He noticed the fun-loving and smiling tease that got on his nerves with her innuendoes and inappropriateness. He also saw the no nonsense fighter who if he was going to be honest, kind of scared him whenever she had that bloodlust look in her blue eyes.

Ichigo imagined it's what was necessary when one was a Shinigami. He imagined it took a lot for someone to do all those killings, even if the things that their weapons cut down were monsters.

He got all that but he still did not understand her.

"Why did you insist on coming home with me?" he probed.

"I wanted to spend more time with you because I just can't get enough of your amazing character and awesome hair." She answered sarcastically.

Ichigo just scowled at her. If she was not going to answer, he was not going to force her. Now that he was fed, showered and refreshed he had to get out of the house. He needed to get back down stairs and say bye to his family before he made his way back to the candy store.

Maybe they could go to whatever land the black wearing fighters came from and stop the person before more harm was done.

Misaki got up from the bed and started walking around his room. She made her way his book shelf full of some of his favourite manga and some not so good ones. She traced her fingers along the many titles and picked one at random.

"Shingeki no Kyojin" She read, then smiled as she perused through the pages, "Cool."

Ichigo just kept looking at her. Even as she put back the manga in its place on the shelf. She then picked up the camera on top of his cupboard and started studying it.

"Let's go." Ichigo said as he got up, "we need to get back to the shop."

"You are not going to sleep?" Misaki looked at him quizzically.

"Ha. Sleep? You are joking right?" he walked to his closet and picked a thick brown coat and a grey scarf. It was probably chilly outside. People always made fun of the jackets and coats he usually wore but he didn't mind. He found them warm and stylish enough…even the ones with fur collars.

Logically he was supposed to be preparing for sleep then but he did not feel at all sleepy.

What he did feel however, was rage. Rage towards whoever was behind the bombing in the first place. And for that reason Ichigo was pumped. There was no way he was going to sleep that night. There was no way he would sleep when the culprit was still out there.

Misaki was still touching the things around his room.

"Are you just going to keep touching my manga and stuff?"

"What? Would you rather I place my hands on something else?" Misaki raised her face to look Ichigo's way.

"You are the worst, you know that?" Ichigo ignored her obvious hint. "Let's go already."

Misaki walked over to the foot of Ichigo's bed and picked up her Zanpakutou. The appearance of the sword surprised Ichigo.

"Didn't you have like two curved swords before?" he enquired.

"Well, yeah that was my Shikai. In its sealed state it just looks like a regular Japanese sword."

Yeah, Ichigo was just going to pretend he knew what she was talking about. His head was already filled with too many things he did not understand.

"Sure." He walked out the door and when she followed him out he switched off his bulb and closed the door behind him.

~xoxo~

"ICHIGO!" the busty Orihime screamed out as she woke up from her forced slumber. She had spent her time in the darkness thinking about the orange haired hottie that she clearly had feelings for.

So when she gained consciousness and looked around Urahara's room, she had at least hoped to have seen Ichigo. To her apparent disappointment Ichigo was nowhere to be seen. There was only one other person apart from her in the room and it was not the scowling ginger.

"Hey, Orihime," her spectacled friend on her side moved closer to her, "he isn't here at the moment. Just try and relax okay."

"Where is he? Is he okay?" her panic laced voice echoed in the room.

"He's fine. He just needed to go see his family. You know how he worries." Uryu comforted her.

"What…what happened?" her throat felt dry and she touched it with her feminine hands. The ringing in her ears was no more and for that she was grateful.

"Here," Uryu handed her a cup of water, "well you seemed to have gotten your powers back. I bet you are happy about that."

Orihime took a sip of the liquid and her throat felt better. "Thanks."

She remembered how she had shielded the man she admired even in the absence of her hairpins. She felt good about that. After that though, everything just goes foggy.

"Is…is Ichigo coming back?" she put the cup down and looked at her hands. She felt power coursing through her and it scared her almost as much as it excited her. She never felt like this even with her _shun shun rikka_.

"I am sure he will. He may not have the memories from when he was a substitute soul reaper but he still has that same tenacity." Using his finger, Uryu pushed his glasses further past his nose.

"I wouldn't be surprised if he is running in the streets of Karakura town right this second on his way here."

Orihime looked around her again, noticing that they had moved her to a different room.

"Where is everyone?"

"Well, Yoruichi left to do whatever it is she does. Misaki left with Ichigo and the rest are with Urahara waiting for him to open up the Senkaimon to soul society."

"Ichigo is with Misaki?"

"Yes, for some reason she insisted on going home with him." Uryu said.

"Oh."

Orihime felt an emotion she did not want to admit to anyone…jealousy. Why was the blue eyed beauty insisting on being found with Ichigo? Was it possible that the blue haired soul reaper also was developing feelings for Ichigo? All these thoughts were not sitting well with Orihime and she hated how they made her feel.

"Orihime, don't worry. He is in capable hands…not that he even needs it." Uryu told her after noticing the look on her face.

But that was the problem again, wasn't it? Orihime wanted to be the one who was there for him. Not some strange girl they haven't even known for more than a day. She even felt bad about what she was thinking about the tease of a soul reaper that had come into their lives out of nowhere. If Orihime was going to be honest, she thought Misaki was a genuinely good person and hating her was something she didn't want to be doing.

"I know." She finally said. "I just worry sometimes."

Orihime pushed herself off the futon and straightened up. She stretched her arms and body as she waited for the feeling of fatigue to pass.

"How long before we can leave for soul society?" she looked at the spectacled guy who also got up from the hard floor. "And are there any new leads regarding who could be behind this?"

"We will leave as soon as Ichigo gets back; I imagine he would get angry if we left him here." Uryu started walking towards the open sliding door.

"We don't have any leads yet and not even that psycho scientist knows anything yet." Uryu folded his arms and looked to be in deep thought, "but sooner or later I am sure the culprit will show his face. No one can resist showing off, especially when the attack has had this kind of effect on both the Seireitei and the human world. They will reveal themselves. I just hope we can stop whatever their plan is."

"We will stop it. We just have to…too many lives depend on it."

Orihime started walking after her spectacled friend. She looked down at her school uniform and realized she was in desperate need of a shower and a change of clothes. He once clean and white shirt look grey and black from all the smoke and ash that she had been around. Orihime didn't even what to think about how her scent was at that time.

When the pair walked out of the room and followed the sound of the voices, they found themselves in the room with Renji, Urahara, Jinta, Ururu and Tessai.

"Good, you're up." Urahara said once he sensed Orihime's presence in the room. "Ichigo was beyond worried about you."

A smile formed on Orihime's face once she heard that. She did not enjoy worrying her friends but she was glad that he cared about her enough to worry. She looked at Uryu and he wore a hard expression on his face, then abruptly he looked away from her…hiding his face.

She didn't understand the expression but she was also not looking to be an annoying prying girl at the moment. If he had something he wanted to share with her, he was going to tell her himself when he thought it most comfortable on his part.

At that moment, her thoughts were just on Ichigo and she wanted him to be back as soon as possible.

"How are you feeling?" Urahara asked as he turned to face the bosomy female.

"I'm okay. A big fatigued but I'm okay." She gave him a sweet smile.

"So, any ideas on how you called upon the protective dome?"

Orihime felt the eyes of all the people on her. Uryu was now standing in a far corner still wearing the look that Orihime didn't understand. Renji was on the floor with his legs crossed and his Zanpakutou by his side. His eyes were fixed on her as he expectantly waited for her response.

Orihime recalled how she had panicked when she thought that the roof might crush Ichigo. She recalled the fear she felt when she felt powerless. In that moment she just wished to save him…to protect him.

"I don't know exactly. One second I was rushing over to move Ichigo away from the danger and the next second the barrier was up." Orihime scratched the back of her head sheepishly and laughed, "I guess, I just wanted to protect him so bad and it just happened."

"Did you notice anything else while that was happening, anything unusual?" Urahara pried.

"You mean other than the fact that she produced an impenetrable dome?" Renji chipped in.

"Yes." Urahara kept his eyes on the standing Orihime.

"Well, I did hear this strange ringing in my ears. It was like when the light first appear the time we were still at school." Orihime remembered the deafening sound and how some of her classmates bled to death.

She almost retched as the cruel image stalked her mind. She was avoiding thinking about that but the images kept coming up. She had experienced her fair share of grief and loss but in that moment it felt like all of it was amplified and the sadness almost chocked her.

"Orihime…" Urahara's voice finally penetrated her thoughts.

"Sorry what?" she shook her head in her attempt to shake the bad thoughts away.

"You spaced out for a bit. I asked if there was anything else apart from the ringing in your ears."

"Oh, there was the heat. At first I thought it was Ichigo's doing but now…"

"Now you're sure it wasn't right?" Renji finished for her.

He gave her a look that made her think she was saying too much. She realized that maybe Ichigo was not ready to share what had happened to the evil crab.

"Um, yes." She gave Urahara a smile, "I think the heat was a byproduct of me producing the barrier."

Urahara folded his arms and raised his eyebrow, "Interesting."

"Phew, well I feel gross. I need a quick shower." She looked around the room and then smiled at the bashful Ururu.

There was no way she was going to go back to her house at that time of night. She was going to have to use Urahara's shower and borrow Ururu's clothes. The bashful young girl had grown up tremendously and Orihime was certain that she could fit in one of her clothes.

She walked over to her and gave the ever blushing girl a hand, indicating that she come with her. Ururu got up from the floor and took Orihime's hand.

"Let's have some girl time, shall we?" Orihime said to Ururu and whispered that she leads her to the bathroom and lends her a change of clothes.

Ururu smiled at Orihime and lead her out of the man filled room. Orihime felt good at the fact that she was going to be fresh and clean soon. Her dirty uniform clung to her body and it made her feel awful.

The sooner she was clean, the sooner she would be ready for what was to come.

~xoxo~

In a dark alley in Karakura town, a panicky woman was cornered by a man in a suit. His eyes looked like those of the mad man that he was. She was pinned against the wall, held in place by an invisible force. Her eyes were filled with tears and her voice was bursting with desperation as she pleaded for her assailant to let her go.

Her boss was a dick who expected her to report for work even when the whole town was in commotion. When all the other people were running around the streets of Karakura town, she was not allowed to go anywhere because leaving meant she would lose her job. Leaving meant would lose her only source of income.

So, she had stayed for work at her boring cubicle hoping and praying that her kids where safe with her sister who looked after them whenever she left for work. She had done some paper work, typed enough words that her fingers almost bled and also brought him coffee when he called for her. She did all this because she was a single mother of two beautiful children and their father was a jackass who had run off with all the money she inherited from her dead aunt.

Deadbeat dads really were the scum of this world.

She had been walking home from her stressful day when she felt eyes on her. She started hearing footsteps behind her and when she had looked back, there was a man following her. Each time she increased her pace, so did he. Each time she slowed down, so did the stalker. She had reached for her purse and put her hands on the pepper spray that was always in her bag and prepared for the worst.

With too many blocks before she reached the sanctuary of her house, she hated her boss in that second and wished she owned a car.

It was in that moment that she was abruptly pushed into the dark alley by the force she could not understand and even when she screamed, no one came to her aid.

"Shhh…Shhh…Shhh." The mad man walked closer to her, "Don't be scared."

The lust in his eyes was evident even as he tried to mask it with care.

"Please, just let me go." She pleased, "I have kids and I am all they have." She tried to fight against the power that had her pushed to the wall. The man in the suit was not even anywhere near her but something was holding her in place.

_Was she losing her mind? Was this all just a hallucination? _

Thinking of all the strange occurrences of the day, she highly doubted it and her eyes stung with the tears that were falling down.

"Oh, I know all about you. I see you every day when you are walking to work. Dressed up in those tight skirts and heels." He licked his lips provocatively, "but of course, women like you never notice guys like me."

"Listen you don't have to do this, please." She moved frantically, unable to break away from the force that had her glued to the wall, "Just let me go, please."

"I am sick and tired of women ignoring me. I am done with being '_the_ _nobody'_ who never gets the girl just because I don't have a fancy car or my own company. Well, not anymore." He said menacingly.

"From now on I will take what I want, when I want it." He looked at her chest and the buttons started popping off by themselves. One by one they all flew off and dropped to the ground leaving her bare stomach and black lace bra in full view.

"NO!" she screamed as she tried to move her pinned hands so that she could cover herself but to no avail. Her hands were held in place by the sides.

The sick man started undoing his tie and dropped it to the ground. He worked the first two buttons on his shirt and saw her eyes widen.

"Do I repulse you that much?" he moved even closer as he looked her over. "Well lets change that, I will make you want me." He was so close now that the woman felt his breath on her skin. Before she could move her head away he roughly planted his lips on hers and she fought to break from him.

The attacker moved his rough hands to her midriff and the panic she had been in multiplied. She bit at his lips hard and he pulled back.

"You bitch," he cursed as he touched a hand to his bleeding lip. "You will pay for that."

He swiftly moved in again and the female screamed at the top of her lungs, hoping and praying that someone…anyone would come to her rescue.

~xoxo~

"So, your family is pretty cool." Misaki said to Ichigo after they had left the warmth of his house and into the cold of the night.

"Yeah, they are the best." Looking up at the glowing full moon as they gently strolled down the street.

"I especially liked Karin, she seems badass. My type of female, she reminds me of me." The blue haired Shinigami smiled as she recalled Karin and her unique character.

Ichigo turned to look at her face and he did not like the feeling he was getting from her.

"You will stay away from my sister." He warned her firmly. "I wouldn't want her picking up some of your questionable manners."

"Questionable manners? Ha. That's a first." Misaki gave a quick laugh. "I am the best influence a girl could ask for. I am strong, independent and never take shit from anyone. Wouldn't you want a sister who is able to fend for herself instead of always needing some guy to rescue her, mm?"

"I guess you have a point."

"Guess? Dude please, I know I'm right. The world is an awful enough place, the last thing anyone should be is weak."

Ichigo appreciated that and the idea of his sisters being able to protect themselves in the face of danger seeing as how the world was slowly becoming a hellhole, kind of made him happy. Obviously he still wanted to be there for all of them but it wouldn't hurt if they also had a way or means to get rid of potential danger.

The purple haired female had said that people were exhibiting different after effects to the light that had struck them. Ichigo was not going to wait around for the other shoe to drop. Who knew what kind of powers and abilities that the people of Karakura town might be having? Who knew if they would all use them for good?

The hearts of men were already filled with darkness, how sure could he be that a time was not upon them when people stopped fighting the demons within them? If the saying, _with great power comes great responsibility_,was anything to go by, Ichigo was certain that sooner or later the events of the day and the loss that people had experienced was slowly going to start corrupting them.

It was then that Ichigo heard a desperate scream and he stiffened for only a second before he rushed toward the direction it came from.

"Oh, come on. Not this again." Misaki said as she ran after him.

Ichigo ran at full speed until he reached the dark alley where he saw a man who had a crying woman forcibly pinned to the cold wall.

The sight before Ichigo made the blood in his veins boil like molten lava. He gritted his teeth as he saw how vulnerable the woman looked. The way her blouse was open and exposing her sacred body to the world and how the man who had her pinned was roughly trying to inch her skirt up her feminine thighs.

"WHAT THE HELL ARE YOU DOING, YOU SICKO?" his voice full of rage and disappointment as he saw what the suited man was planning on doing.

The woman felt relief and sighed as soon as she heard the voice. She immediately felt hope that she might survive the night and feeling grateful that someone had come to help her.

The man in a suit quickly moved away from the struggling and crying woman. He looked at Ichigo and the look of fear that had been on his face a second ago vanished as he completely took a look at Ichigo. The man almost laughed at the situation. Feeling embarrassed that he had even been scared when the voice that had interrupted him belonged to nothing more than a young man…with orange hair no less.

Pathetic.

"What does it look like I'm doing? Don't butt into stuff you do not know." He looked at the pinned woman, moved his eyes to her skirt and even though he was not touching her, the skirt starting riding up her thighs.

"Stop that." Ichigo fumed then quickly charged for the man with the sole intention of punching his lights out.

In the split of a second Ichigo was thrown roughly against the wall, a powerful force pushing him harder, keeping him in place.

"What the hel…"

The wannabe rapist started laughing maniacally and walked away from the struggling woman and closer to a somewhat powerless Ichigo.

"Did you really think I would make a move on a woman and attempt to make her mine if I didn't have a trump card?"

He flicked Ichigo from one wall to the other and the impact made Ichigo cough out blood.

"You bastard, I WILL KILL YOU. YOU HEAR ME? I WILL KILL YOU." Ichigo fumed as he looked at the mad man in front of him.

"Really? Is that so?" the man erupted in laughter and tears almost started dropping from his crazed eyes.

"All my life I have been powerless, weak…I amounted to nothing. Now I can make things happen just by thinking them, I can move objects just by wishing it. You really think I will ever let anyone tell me what to do again?" he laughed even more as the power he had clouded his already warped judgment.

He pushed Ichigo even more into the wall, and no matter how much he tried to fight the force that was holding him, Ichigo just could let it budge.

"Well ain't life a bitch?" Misaki's voice came from where she had been standing, her back against the wall and her hand on the hilt of her Katana.

"I am afraid I am gonna have to beat some sense into you now, my psycho friend." She said as she stepped away from the wall and stood under the moonlight, her blue hair glowing in the night.

"No one can stop me now." The man retorted, "I will never be a nobody ever again."

"Enough of this bullshit." Misaki's voice was laced with annoyance. She unsheathed her katana, held it with both hands and looked dangerously at the rapist in front of her.

From the looks of it, the man didn't seem at all intimidated by her sword. In fact, he was looking at her as though she were a child holding a stick at him. The bastard thought she was harmless. She needed to show him what she was made of.

"Suffocate, Engetsutou no Suna." She muttered the incantation and the katana in her hands split in two. Her Zanpakutou was released and in her hands she held the twin curved blades that Ichigo was familiar with. The obsidian blades looked like they could cut down anything in their path and the sharp edge shined in the moonlight as it was the only part that was not black.

A close look at the blades showed Ichigo that they were connected by a very thin chain, it looked almost like thread.

"That's good, but it won't save you."

Misaki took a battle stance and readied herself for the attack that the man was obviously going to bring her way.

She felt the pull of his power trying to draw her in but as she was some distance from him, she fought against it and soared into the air and on top of the wall further away from her. In a crouching stance, she balanced her body on the wall and prepared to dive straight for him.

This was going to be tricky. She did not know how powerful his telekinesis was but seeing how Ichigo was unable to pull away from the wall and the almost violated woman was also still pinned up Misaki guessed it was pretty strong. What she needed was a quick dive and cut.

The man below her continued to laugh like a maniac and it pissed her off so much.

Misaki's first instinct was to cut down the psycho in half, rid the world of the evil that he was. But the woman he was on the verge of assaulting was traumatized enough, Misaki was cold when need came but even she didn't want to scar her even more. She needed to handle this with a shred of delicacy. It would be hard but she loved when things were hard.

"I was hoping to have more luck with you sexy. Two women are better than one and now that I feel this powerful I will have any woman I want."

"Fuck this." Misaki flash stepped towards the man and before he could even respond, she hit him on his head with the hilt of her blade and he fell to the ground in a shameful heap.

The force that was holding Ichigo and the woman was suddenly gone. The woman dropped to her knees and tried to cover up her exposed chest, she cried hysterically at what had almost happened to her. Ichigo rushed to her side, took off his warm coat and covered her up before he helped her to her feet.

"It's all over." He comforted her, "You're safe now."

Ichigo hated it when he saw a woman cry and he despised anyone who intentionally or unintentionally made women cry.

The woman quickly moved away from Ichigo's warm body and made her way to the passed out assailant. She used her feet to move him so that he lay on his back and then proceeded to stomping his on his privates over and over and over. She screamed out loud as she gave him one final hard stomp, then she broke down in tears and fell to the ground.

She wept until all her frustration was washed away.

"Than…Thank you." She finally said as she started getting up and held Ichigo's coat closer to her body, enjoying the warmth and the fact that she was covered up now.

Ichigo just nodded wishing that there was more he could do. The trauma she must have been in.

"I…um…I have to go."

She took of the coat, held her blouse in place and shivered as the chilly air made contact with her skin. She wanted to hand him his coat back.

"No, keep it." Ichigo said and she offered him a smile.

"Again, thank you so much." Then she walked away, gave a look back at her saviors and disappeared into the night.

"I fucking hate this." Ichigo swore and roughly run his hands in his hair.

His comment shocked Misaki.

"Whoa, orange…that is so unlike you."

"Well what do you expect? It was bad enough that we had to fight those hollow things and now even people have been added to the mix. What the hell is going on?" he was so pissed.

"It will only get worse from here I'm afraid." A strange voice said from behind them and both Ichigo and Misaki turned to find a man in black hooded attire with a very peculiar scythe in his hand. His outfit consisted of fitted black pants, combat boots and a leather jacket that fitted his entire back with a hood that shrouded his whole head. He was seated on top of the wall casually; with one leg dangling while the other was rested on the wall.

Misaki recoiled as she took in his spiritual pressure and Ichigo was close to losing it. Was there no end to how many surprises he was going to be getting?

"Who the hell are you?" Ichigo demanded.

"I am the person about to change this world for the better. I will be a god." He moved his face so that the pair below could see the outline of his chin and mouth. The smile he wore unnerved Ichigo.

"So you are the bastard responsible for all this carnage?" Ichigo leapt to were the hooded stranger was seated.

Ichigo did not have a weapon in hand but with the way he was feeling he knew his fists would be enough. He was not even close to his mark when the cloaked stranger pointed his scythe at Ichigo and blew the orange haired young man back to the ground.

Ichigo had the wind knocked out of him and the hooded stranger stood up and balanced his feet on the wall in a graceful manner, his scythe held tenderly in his hand.

"We will meet again, Ichigo Kurosaki. Until then, I suggest you become stronger because unless you reach the level I am at, you will be destroyed along with everything and everyone you know." Then in an instant he disappeared into thin air.

"Get back here you coward!" He shouted after the hooded man. "Go after him, Misaki!"

"And where exactly could that be, genius? In case you didn't notice, the dude disappeared."

"Damn it." Ichigo furiously hit his hand on the ground, "What was the point of all that? Was it just to taunt me? And how the hell did he know my name?"

There were so many thoughts in Ichigo's mind as he got off the ground and prepared to go to Urahara's. He dusted off the back of his jean trousers and straightened up fully.

"Let's get out of here. Mr. Hat-and-clogs will want to know about this."

"What do we do with this piece of scum?" she kicked the passed out man in the suit.

"I can't deal with that at the moment. Let us hope he has learned his lesson and if not we will..."

Misaki wasted no time. She did not even give him time to finish his sentence before she speared one of her blades in the rapist's chest.

"What the hell did you just do?" Ichigo could not believe his eyes, "You just murdered someone!"

"Yes, and now this good for nothing piece of dirt will never harm anyone ever again." She swung her bloody sword once then looked at Ichigo seriously, "Listen, you live in a cruel world and it will just keep getting worse. You heard that hooded freak. I have done the world a huge favour."

"We…we…we could have taken him to jail or something." Ichigo looked at the bloody pool that was forming around the man in the suit. "This is not what we do, this isn't how humans live."

"This chaos that is about to come has no place for humanity. You need to discard those stupid ideals and kill to survive, otherwise, this whole world of the living will be hell. Do you really want your sisters to live in a world where such assholes exist?"

Ichigo felt sick to his stomach. Killing those masked creatures he was fine with, in fact he was ready to slay them all, but killing humans was not something he was even remotely ready for. There had to be another way.

He got what she was saying but killing had to be the last resort. He did not like the way the world was turning out. They needed to fix this soon. That hooded man had to be stopped and the world returned back to normal.

~xoxo~

When they finally made it to Urahara's house, Ichigo asked that Misaki narrate everything that had happened to them. He was not in the mood for show and tell. He was still riled up over how easily she had stabbed that guy. Were soul reapers really that heartless?

He needed to speak to Orihime.

She looked freshened and her hair looked like it had just been washed. He noticed that she was not wearing her uniform anymore but instead was dressed in a shin length blue and white polka dot skirt, a black shirt that clung to her chest, a red jacket that hang at only half her upper body and black combat boots that went up beyond her skirt.

Her appearance in that moment made something deep in him stir and he liked and hated the feeling. It was all foreign to him and he did not like things he did not understand.

_What the hell was happening to him?_

He walked straight to her and held on to her arm before he whispered, "Do you have a minute?"

Orihime's eyes widened and her face reddened. In the end, she just nodded.

Ichigo steered her outside in the cool night air. He liked how her feminine arm felt in his masculine hand as they walked side by side. Part of him did not want to let her go.

_Seriously what the hell is going on with me?_

As soon as they were out doors he slowly let go of her arm and put his hands in his pockets.

They stood in awkward silence, staring expectantly at each other. Each one was waiting for the other to say something. Ichigo cursed himself for being so lame. He was the one who had dragged her out here in the chilly night. So why was he just taking in her appearance? Why was he just looking deeply into her big eyes?

"It's cold out tonight, huh?" Ichigo awkwardly said.

_What the hell Ichigo? Really? Weather talk? _

He wanted to punch himself in the gut for that pathetic line.

"Um…yes, very." Orihime was fidgeting with her hands, "But the jacket Ururu gave me is warm enough."

"That's good." Ichigo almost scowled at how this conversation was going. He had taken her outside so he could apologize and say thanks for how she healed him and shielded him from harm. But instead he was acting like a total bore. His behavior made Keigo seem like Casanova.

"Um…so did you really run into the person who is responsible for all this?" She looked up at him, and when he stared back at her Orihime blushed and looked away.

"Hm, yeah. But he got away."

More silence.

"Ichi…"

"Orihi…"

They both started at the same time and when they couldn't finish what they planned on saying, they both just smiled.

"You go first." Orihime smiled, fidgeting some more.

"Honestly I don't even know what I planned on saying to you." Ichigo removed his right hand from his pocket and scratched the back of his head.

He seriously needed to voice his thoughts and desires better than he was doing it.

"It's okay, I am just glad to see you up and about." She gave him one gentle smile and then started turning back, "We better go back in side."

When she turned to walk away, Ichigo covered the space between them in one quick stride and took her hand in his own.

"Wait." He stopped her. Orihime stiffened.

"Thank you." He said in a low voice, it came out more like a whisper.

"Really, I can't imagine what could have become of me if you did not shield me when that roof started coming down."

The busty girl relaxed a bit. It was weird for her hearing that from him.

"Hey, what are friends for?" she turned to look back at him so she could offer him a smile. Instead she ended up blushing. He was so close that it unnerved her and her breath become somewhat uneven.

Ichigo realized too late that what he had done could not go too well for him. The feel of her warm hand in his suddenly made his heartbeat quicken and he hoped that his face was not going to betray him.

Why was he feeling this way about her now…especially when the world was in so much uncertainty? So much chaos?

Her big eyes were staring up at him and the distance between them was so small that he could hear her breathing, he could smell the shampoo she had used in her hair and it almost intoxicated him. He felt strange, he felt wild. But he kept on looking deep into her eyes, slightly mesmerized.

"Hey Ichigo." A voice called out from behind Orihime. Ichigo was snapped back to reality.

"We are ready to leave for soul society now." Renji finished. He looked at the pair before him and he felt like a dick for showing up like he did.

"Yeah, sure." He let go of Orihime's hand and returned his own back into his pockets.

"Um, I will just go right ahead." Orihime bolted into the house and left Ichigo and Renji outside.

"Sorry about that man," Renji sounded apologetic, "bad timing, I know."

"I don't know what the hell you are talking about," Ichigo said matter-of-factly.

If he did not understand what the hell he was feeling or what was going on with him, there was no way he was going to discuss it with the red haired stranger.

'Sure you don't." Renji turned to go back in the house, "I mean it's not like you were about to lock lips with her or anything." He finished in a teasing voice.

"Just shut up." Ichigo countered, "Let's go to this strange world you weirdos are from. I imagine even the air will be trying to kill me."

~xoxo~

**Author's Note: Thanks a bunch for the comments I got for my previous chapter and I hope you enjoyed reading this as much as I enjoyed writing it and getting your honest feedback.**

Um honest review?

23


	8. Of new resolves and old friends

Orihime Innoe's breathing was still uneven and rugged and her heart was still beating faster than normal as she left the company of the bright-haired young man she had feelings for. She was grateful for Renji showing up when he did. Orihime really didn't know what she would have done in that moment if his voice had not broken her out of the trance she had been in.

She had to stop being what most people would call a fan-girl and give up on all the blushing and feeling flustered whenever Ichigo gave her even an innocent look. She had to lock her feelings in a titanium chest and keep the key in another chest and only ever open it once she was certain he felt the same way. If there is one thing she did not what to be anymore, it was the girl who looked and acted weak even when she had a way to be far more powerful and offer so much more help.

She really had never planned to let the former substitute soul reaper affect her so much. He made her mind foggy and around him she felt like she couldn't reason properly. Deep down, she knew her feelings would sooner or later cloud her judgment and probably end up hurting not only her but also the people she cared about.

She remembered how reckless she had been when she had decided to go to Hueco Mundo in the hopes of saving her friends.

As she ran into the house and tried to gain some composure after what she could only describe as the most intimate and closest she had been with Ichigo, Orihime made a promise to herself…she was not going be the girl who was easily affected any more.

She vowed to use her new strength and powers to become the person that no one expected her to be. She was going to be strong and try to fend for herself. And above all else, she was not going to spend her time being flustered and fantasizing about the spiky haired scowling hottie.

With the way the world was turning out, Orihime did not want to be a burden or a hindrance any longer. She recalled how powerless she felt when she was in Hueco Mundo and how much of a damsel in distress she had been. Well no longer would she be that girl. If the power she felt in her body now was anything to go by, she trusted she could muster enough to protect not only herself but also the people she cared about.

A new era was about to begin and it involved Orihime no longer being a weak and timid human.

~xoxo~

Some time when the whole gang was back together and had gathered in readiness for their travel to soul society, Urahara led them all to the training room. Ichigo was wondering what was going to happen next and just how dangerous it was going to be.

"Okay, now before you guys start off, make sure that Ichigo doesn't do anything reckless." Urahara said as he looked at the group of people before him.

"What's that supposed to mean, old man?" the bright-haired boy looked offended.

"It means exactly how it came out, Orange." Misaki shook her head and Ichigo scowled at her.

He was not reckless…much. He just sought to protect those he cared about at all cost. Big difference.

"You are not a Soul Reaper anymore and though there is a possibility that you might develop new abilities like our Orihime," Urahara turned to the curvy female and looked her over from head to toe, "we are not sure what those powers are or how long it might take you to actually be useful so until then try not to get into any unnecessary fights. When you do recover your memories, all this will make sense and hopefully you will get where I'm coming from."

Ichigo didn't need the clogs-wearing old man to explain it to him; the orange haired young man had been in more fights that he cared to remember-whether necessary or unnecessary.

"Let's just get this over with," the spectacled white-clad man pushed his glasses up his nose.

"I still find it bizarre how the Quincy fits in so well with us." the blue haired soul reaper looked genuinely perplexed.

The atmosphere in the room got intense as people looked wide-eyed from Misaki to Uryu.

"Why? Because your kind slaughtered my people?" Uryu looked cross.

"Yes." She answered lazily. "I mean, I can't imagine how you feel about it all but personally, I would have gone on a personal Soul reaper wiping out mission years ago. Anyone else would be pissed; I mean it's only natur…"

"What is wrong with you?" Renji couldn't understand how someone could be so inappropriate and that in itself was saying something.

"Come on, I can't be the only one thinking it. We should be his enemy but…"

A spiritual arrow flew towards the talkative blue head and passed by her ear before it slammed into the far ground behind her. Her eyes widened at the bold move made by the bespectacled young man in white, his spiritual bow still in his expert hands.

"The next one will make contact with your mouth," Uryu warned.

Misaki smirked and looked challengingly at the guy who had the guts to fire an arrow at her.

"Learn to take a joke, four-eyes."

"Um…that wasn't really funny." Orihime said, surprising everyone.

They all knew that the blue head had a twisted sense of humour but to be reminded of it by the busty girl just made it all so clear.

Misaki wanted to say more but she was cut off when they all glared at her, including Ichigo who in his current condition had no clue about Soul reaper and Quincy history.

"Can we just go already?" Renji spoke.

Looking at them under the brim of his striped hat, Urahara just cleared his throat.

"Um, yes." He said and proceeded to open up the passage to the soul society.

When the Senkaimon was open and its bright white passageway shone in the room, the two Soul reapers entered first, followed by the busty orange haired Orihime. Ichigo looked at the opening and then at Uryu and got a bad feeling about what was to happen next.

"Hey, it's totally safe…ish" Uryu said as he pushed his glasses up and went through the bright opening.

Ichigo took a deep breath and followed the others. The Senkaimon closed and Urahara was left standing alone.

Urahara heard footsteps behind him and even without turning he knew exactly who it was.

"So when are you planning on telling him?" Tessai asked the banished, former squad twelve captain.

"He still has a lot on his plate at the moment," Urahara turned to face Tessai, "besides I need to confirm some things first."

"The longer you wait, the more his life in in danger…and it's not safe for the people around him either. Kisuke you have to tell him."

"I know…" Urahara removed his reishi collector/sensor and studied it for a second; his features got even more serious as he thought about what it all meant, "I know."

~xoxo~

_Soul Society_

The Senkaimon opened in the sky. The bright white light engulfed the gang as they emerged from it.

"Welcome to the soul society, strawberry." Misaki said once they could see the new world before them.

"When the hell are we?" Ichigo's voice sounded confused as he looked at the sight below him. He felt like he had travelled back in time to feudal japan. Parts of the place were destroyed but on the most part it looked like a beautiful world.

"Don't let its look deceive you Ichigo; the place isn't as technologically crippled as you are thinking." Renji explained.

Looking around him, Ichigo realized that they were high up in the sky. Renji and Misaki proceeded to jumping down with ease and no fear of facing sudden death. Uryu smirked at Ichigo and jumped too.

"What is with these people's obsession with jumping?" he scratched the back of his head and faced Orihime.

"Um…well, maybe it is because they do it so well."

"You ready?" he asked her.

Orihime smiled at him and leapt out of the Senkaimon and down to follow the Soul reapers and the Quincy. That about answered Ichigo's question.

He was still finding it hard to understand how a sudden run in with a mysterious light was making it possible to jump great distances like ninja.

Pushing that thought back he also jumped after his new companions. As he carefully landed on one of the nearby roofs and took in the air, his head got the same sharp pain he was now so familiar with. Ichigo staggered a bit and hoped that no one noticed. Being seen as the weak link was something he didn't want to experience.

"Ichigo, are you okay?" A concerned Orihime asked.

"Yes" Ichigo lied, "I just lost my footing. This jumping is just weird to me still." He looked away as his face pinched, the intense pain making his eyesight cloudy.

"Oh strawberry, you are so lame. Hard to believe you were ever a soul reaper." Misaki said as she walked to him then hit him once in his stomach before he dropped to the ground on his knees.

"So fucking weak." She then knelt down and put an oval pill in his left hand and whispered, "Get a hold of yourself; I can't keep giving you my secret stash."

Ichigo held the miracle pill firmly in his hand and got to his feet, "I am not weak. I…just lost my footing." He popped the pill discreetly in his mouth and the headache was gone. He felt Uryu's eyes on him but he did not turn to look at the Quincy. His face would probably give too much away.

"We need to talk to the head captain first of all." Renji said, "He has to be told about this hooded scythe dude."

Renji switched his attention to Misaki.

"Since you were there and know what happened when he made his appearance, you will have to do this." Renji told her, "I will go with the others to the Department of Research and Development and see if captain Kurotsuchi has figured out anything new."

"Fine, whatever." Misaki answered, "Ask the foul mouthed one to go talk to the head captain." She shook her head and leapt away, jumping from roof to roof as she made her way to her destination.

"She is quite the character." Uryu commented.

"You don't know the half of it." Renji responded.

He turned to the still confused Ichigo and studied him, "Time you remembered your time as a soul reaper Ichigo. Let's get going." Renji spoke as he led the way.

Ichigo wasn't sure what exactly to expect but for the time being he would just take things one step at a time.

~xoxo~

_Department of research and development, sometime before the arrival of Ichigo and his gang_

A remarkable part of the institute was wrecked and the rubble had fallen all around the surrounding area. The smoke and residual spiritual energy from the blast had all but completely dissipated. Kurotsuchi felt murderous setting his sight on it all. His painted face was set in a serious glare as he tried to put the pieces together.

Who had the audacity to bomb his beautiful labs? They would surely pay. He did not care about how many of his subordinates had been killed. They were all just trash that worked for him, his little slaves. He only cared about restoring the institute to its former glory and killing whoever had messed with his true love.

"Captain Kurotsuchi, I have the report on the attack that you wanted." The flat, emotionless voice of Nemu reached the captain of squad 12 as he looked at what was once his pride and joy.

"About time, Nemu. Give it here!" He grabbed the report rudely and skimmed over it hurriedly. "This doesn't make any sense, what are they planning with this attack? Spiritual energy and hollows, Quincies and Shinigami, veils and spirit worlds…" Kurotsuchi mumbled to himself.

"Anything I can help with, sir?" Nemu asked.

"Just shut up and leave me alone!" The scientist shouted at her as he walked away from her and kept looking at the report.

…_from the looks of this, it appears they had been logging into the system and doing this intense research for a long time now. It can't be… _Kurotsuchi's face beamed as he felt a sort of satisfaction.

"This is probably every scientist's dream come true!" Kurotsuchi felt an unmistakable feeling of delight and excitement. He had just discovered a gold mine. If what he had concluded was true then he needed to get himself the specimen in question. "Nemu, I need you to do something for me. I want you to…"

The scientist turned and when he didn't see her behind him but still standing where she had been when she had handed him the report, his face scowled and his eye twitched in annoyance.

"What are you doing all the way over there you useless girl?" he asked angrily and walked to her with the intention of slapping or strangling her.

"You asked me to leave you alone, captain." Nemu answered politely and in her low voice.

"Are you being smart with me?" the abusive Kurotsuchi got even angrier, "I will…"

"Captain." Renji's voice spoke as they made it to the institute. Kurotsuchi was not pleased for being disturbed.

"WHAT?" he yelled as he turned to where the voice had come from and the annoyance left his face as he took in the strange spiritual pressure. A huge grin formed on his painted face as he walked closer to Renji and his voice.

Luck was surely on his side. The specimen had walked right over to him.

"Captain," Renji started, but the scientist was not paying any mind to him at all. His eyes were fixed on the orange haired former substitute soul reaper and the closer he got, the more his grin widened.

"We need…"

"Shut up!" The painted captain yelled. He needed to treasure this moment.

"Welcome to my humble institute, orange haired one." He moved so close to Ichigo's face that Ichigo had to recoil a bit. It was rather uncomfortable. Kurotsuchi paid no mind to the other people, especially the Quincy.

"Captain, before we do anything I wanted us to fix his memory first." Renji said. "You do remember last year when he asked for that favour?"

"Oh, sure, sure, sure." The scientist masked his annoyance of being disturbed again with an unnerving smile. "I didn't really wipe his memory. I simply locked them away you see."

He reached into the sleeve of his clothing and produced a vial containing a green liquid. He gripped it in his pale hands before jabbing it swiftly in the side of Ichigo's neck. Ichigo had no time to react as the jade liquid emptied into his system.

"Hey! What the hell-"

"That will unlock that door and you will remember everything that you so carelessly wanted to forget." The scientist said with a crazed grin.

Ichigo closed his eyes as he prepared for it all to come back.

"Anything?" the tattooed one asked. Ichigo opened his eyes and felt disappointment when he felt no change.

"Noth…" Ichigo then dropped to the floor as the whirlwind of memories came rushing in. The door was open and his brain overflowed with stuff he had long forgotten. They flashed in his mind and he felt like his head would implode.

He remembered the first day he met the ridiculously short soul reaper and Fish Bone D attacked the Kurosaki clinic, prompting said soul reaper to lend him her powers. How her arrogant brother came for her and fought Ichigo. He remembered travelling to the Seireitei with Chad, Uryu and Orihime to save the short girl who was to be executed. How they had fought captains. He remembered Aizen, the Arrancar and the Visoreds. Heck he remembered it all; his hollow powers consuming him, defeating Grimmjow and Ulquiorra, he remembered using Mugetsu. It all came back to him and in the end he screamed out loud as it all overwhelmed him.

What had prompted him to want to forget in the first place? Was he so weak and pitiful that he didn't want to remember that time just because he could not be a soul reaper anymore?

Ichigo tightened his fists and vowed never to be so pathetic again. He got up from the floor and looked at the red haired Renji. He remembered him now. He remembered everything and even his expression changed. He felt like the person that Orihime had spoken of. He felt like the person he once was.

"Well…?" Renji enquired.

"I remember" Ichigo said.

Uryu was pleased and so was Orihime.

"Good," Mayuri Kurotsuchi said, "Now that that is out of the way, I would very much like to move on to more pressing matters." He was still wearing his huge smile; clearly enjoying what he thought was to be the most fun he had had in a long time.

"Yes, the bombing. We were…"

"Oh no, not that." The crazy scientist brushed Renji off, "my only interest now is him." He stared excitedly at Ichigo. "He is the key to everything and I need to disec…"

The sound of an alarm cut him off and he looked enraged. He was getting really sick of people disturbing his thoughts and what he wanted to say. A message was then heard in the whole Seireitei with the help of the hell butterflies.

"_Attention…attention, the Seireitei has been breached. All able bodied men must prepare for battle. Attention…attention, the Seireitei has been breached. All able bodied men must prepare for battle."_

Renji turned to go and help together with the Quincy. They swiftly leapt away from the institute. Ichigo planned on joining them but a hand held on to him. Looking at who it belonged to, he found that it was Nemu's.

"What, Nemu? Let go of me." He demanded.

"I am afraid I can't let you do that," Mayuri spoke, "you are my latest project Ichigo Kurosaki and I can't have any harm come to you before I have done my thorough study of what you are."

"What the hell are you talking about?" Ichigo was getting annoyed.

"My modified body is able to detect all spiritual energies and as I stand here I cannot figure out just what you are. And I need to know. I sense a strange presence from you. The scientist in me cannot let you go before I understand it all." He smiled menacingly at the confused Ichigo.

Ichigo tried to break free of her hold but she was stronger than she looked.

"Don't fight it Ichigo," the scientist laughed out maniacally, "or should I call you specimen zero?"

A purple shield suddenly appeared between Ichigo and Nemu and Nemu's hand was swiftly zapped away, leaving Ichigo free.

"Thanks Orihime." Ichigo rubbed his wrists, that Nemu was one strong broad.

"Let's go Ichigo." Orihime called out to him and the pair ran off after Uryu and Renji.

"Nemu, you fool!" the angry scientist yelled as he slapped her, knocking her to the ground. "I asked you to hold on to him you useless piece of trash."

"I am sorry captain, please feel free to punish me." Nemu slowly got up and dusted off her short kimono.

"Oh believe it, I will." He looked disappointedly at her, "you can't do anything right you idiot." The crazy scientist shook his head.

~xoxo~

The voice hadn't been kidding when she said breached. The Seireitei was swarming with smaller hollows and the fearsome Menos Grande. The really tall hollows were slowly moving, destroying buildings and producing ceros as they threatened to destroy the whole Seireitei.

The lower level Soul reapers had no chance against the more powerful Gillian and most of them were being killed without putting up more of a fight. The floors and walls of the Seireitei where covered in blood and weak soul reapers were ended.

These kinds of enemies required the power of lieutenants or higher to be vanquished. From where Ichigo stood on the roof with Orihime, he could see most of what was going on in the Seireitei. In the distance Ichigo could see Renji in his bankai form, charging and blasting away the hollows. Uryu had produced a spiritual bow that was firing hundreds of arrows at once. Being in the soul society always had that effect on him. It made his abilities even more formidable. The smaller hollows didn't stand a chance.

Ichigo wished he could do Getsuga Tenshou in his bankai state. He knew these would not be a problem. He saw Orihime from the corner of his eye and he saw that she was planning on joining the fight. As she was about to charge off in the direction of Renji and Uryu, Ichigo grabbed on to her arm.

"What the hell do you think you are doing?" he asked.

"Um…I wanna help." She looked at him seriously.

"Like hell you are." Ichigo pulled her back. "Just stay back here, you will get hurt."

Orihime flinched and looked at him. He had unintentionally hurt her. She broke free of his hold and looked challengingly at him.

"I am not some fragile egg to be protected, Ichigo." She said then stepped back, "I can do this, and I know I can."

"I don't think you understand how serious this…"

Orihime took a battle stance as she engulfed not only herself but also Ichigo under her protective dome. Ichigo had been so busy scolding her that he hadn't sensed the hollow that was about to attack him from behind.

The bear-shaped hollow with its large paws and sharp long nails growled at Orihime and Ichigo behind the impenetrable dome. Its hollow mask showed its cold evil eyes and it looked hideous as the long saber-cat-like teeth protruded from its mouth.

The hollow touched the dome and got zapped once. It then started hitting against the shield over and over but the shield held. The shield started vibrating and got a darker shade of purple as it sounded like raw energy was coursing through it. It reminded Ichigo of the sound of electricity passing through power cables.

A gush of purple energy was emitted from the purple dome and hit the hollow in its stomach. Its body was cut in half as upper half fell off and dropped to the ground and dissipated. The lower half dissipated as well and Ichigo looked on in shock.

"Still think I can't handle myself?" Orihime said, totally pleased with herself.

"How did you do that?"

"Always with the questions, huh Ichigo?" Orihime smiled at him as she dropped the protection. "I believed I can do it and it happened. I'm sure if you stopped doubting yourself every single second and believe you are more than your soul reaper powers, you will be able to awaken your power as well."

Orihime didn't even give him time to respond before she ran off to deal with the snake-like hollow that had appeared on her right. She produced the purple shield again, this time making sure it was not a dome but just protecting her front and fired more purple projectiles which ended the hollow.

A two legged humanoid hollow also appeared and when she fired her purple projectiles, it dodged to the left and they missed. The hollow then started charging for her, dodging all of her long range attacks and Ichigo was about to dive to her aid when she produced a dome around him, keeping him away from her fight-imprisoning him momentarily.

She extended the shield in front of her so that it went all around her and also covered her top. The busty girl then shot multiple purple projectiles in all directions and no matter which way the hollow dove or jumped, there was one aiming for him. The humanoid hollow jumped in the air but the purple surges of energy were being fired up there too and one made contact with its hollow mask. The projectile pierced the hollow's mask and came out on the other side. The hollow snarled. Many more projectiles speared and were slammed in its chest, stomach and limbs such that it resembled a pin cushion then it disappeared as it died.

Ichigo could see that Orihime was pleased with her progress. He had never seen her quite like this. The force imprisoning him came down and he found a smiling Orihime looking at him.

"Please don't interfere in my battles Ichigo. Have some faith in me. I can do this," Then she ran to were the majority of soul reapers were encountering the Menos Grande.

Ichigo was about to follow her when he felt a searing pain in his back. A hollow had caught him off guard again. His back was ripped up and he immediately coughed out blood. The blood poured all over his shirt and down to the floor. Ichigo dropped from the roof and onto the hard ground as he could not keep standing with the pain he was in. On the floor, he tried to move his body but his body wasn't listening to him. He lay in a pool of his own blood and he felt his lungs start to fill up with the warm liquid.

_Damn it, not again._ Ichigo couldn't believe he was fatally wounded again.

The hollow that had attacked him peered over the roof Ichigo fell from and he saw that it had two legs and sharp blades for arms. There was a tail behind it that swayed in the air and the tip was also a serrated blade. Its mask showed off its sharp teeth and a pointy nose.

The hollow looked down at Ichigo and jumped off the roof. It's only thought then was to devour his soul.

He remembered what Orihime had told him. There was more to him than soul reaper powers and he had to believe he could do it. That he could still fight. That he was not weak.

Ichigo felt a burning heat all over his body as a blast of his Reiatsu erupted from deep within him. A black aura with a red outline covered his whole body and it reminded him of his Getsuga Tenshou when he was in bankai. It felt like pure energy and anyone with a brain would stay clear of it.

When the hollow got closer and touched the dark aura, its hand melted off. As Ichigo lay on the ground in pain a surge of the dark and red aura shot off in all directions before it came back and covered him again. Once the hollow's body got engulfed by the fog, there was nothing left, not even its mask.

Ichigo writhed in pain and the burning of his body continued. He smelled brimstone in the air and the pain from his back intensified. He gritted his teeth and he writhed some more. His skin felt like a hot piece of iron was being passed on it and when he opened his eyes all he saw was red. He groaned and crawled. He tossed and he turned.

His wrists felt bound. A red fur wrist band appeared and when he looked at them he saw that red-hot chains were coiling their way from his wrists up to his toned arms. His arms burned and Ichigo screamed out in pain as the chains wound around his arms.

A large war cleaver appeared in his right hand. Its hilt was black with red streaks and the large sharp edge glistened as it appeared. An identical cleaver appeared in his left hand as well. The obsidian blades were engulfed by black and red and as the pain started reducing Ichigo saw that they were attached to the chains that were coiled around his arms.

Ichigo slowly started standing up and he did not feel any more pain in his back. The burning sensation was gone. He was still engulfed by darkness and redness and when it cleared, no longer was he clad in black faded jeans and blue button up shirt with a tee inside.

Ichigo was now dressed in a black, jagged-sleeveless Hakama and fastened in the middle by a white sash. His feet were in white socks and sandals. He stood straight and held on tightly to the very larger weapons in his hands, surprising himself with the ease with which he lifted them.

Though he was no longer engulfed by red and black his larger war cleavers still were. Ichigo smiled to himself as he felt a power like none he had ever known wash all over him. Those Menos were going to get it.

When two hollows appeared in front of him, one on all fours and the other a spider-hollow, Ichigo thought there was no time like the present to try out his new power. He was going to use both blades for his first attack. He was going to cut them both down.

Placing his feet firmly on the ground, he pushed straight for the hollows and swung his great swords, killing both of them in an instant.

Ichigo leapt to a nearby roof. He looked to where the low level soul reapers were struggling with the many Menos and many dying. Ichigo then flash stepped in that general direction and prepared to wipe out the Gillians.

With the large war cleavers in hand, Ichigo leapt in the air and cut down the first Menos in his way. He was so fast that the unnamed soul reapers did not even know what had just happened.

He proceeded to cutting down one menos after the other until it became tedious. There were about twelve remaining and Ichigo wanted to take them down all at once. Looking at where they were he could see that there were a number of soul reapers teaming up to kill the tall hollows.

He looked at the aura covering his new blades and thought of Getsuga. He figured that due to the similar colour of the aura to his Getsuga Tenshou in Bankai, he would also be able to use Getsuga in this state.

Ichigo stood in the air and joined the other soul reapers who were already there.

"GET BACK!" Ichigo shouted and the soul reapers looked back at Ichigo. When they took in his spiritual pressure, they felt that he meant business. The lesser soul reapers on the ground and rooftops retreated and got back while the ones in the air stood behind Ichigo.

"Ichigo, you bastard…" he heard a familiar voice say and when he looked down he saw the bald head that he knew so well. The bald soul reaper's spear Zanpakutou cut at the larger menos and a huge smile was all over the soul reapers face, "…what makes you think you can tell me what to do?" Ikkaku Madarame finished as he swung his spear once more, killing the hollow.

"I am trying to end this fight as soon as possible Ikkaku." Ichigo said, "Why are you always so stubborn? Move away from…"

"Ichigo, I would suggest you leave him be…" Yumichika's voice reached Ichigo's ears, "…you know how he gets when he starts to fight." Ichigo turned and saw the feathers by the soul reapers eyes and he felt good to be back. It was a nice feeling seeing his old friends again.

"And I must say those blades are not beautiful at all." Yumichika added as he studied the giant war cleavers in Ichigo's hands, "and those chains…ouch."

Ichigo gave the beauty obsessed soul reaper a half smile and looked down at his weapons. Ichigo loved them

Now was his chance to try out his new and improved Getsuga.

"Last warning Ikkaku." Ichigo said as he prepared to pierce the Menos in ahead of him.

"GETSUGA TENSHOU!" He shouted with everything that he had.

Nothing happened.

Ikkaku cackled hysterically at Ichigo.

"Very impressive," Yumichika commented, sarcasm lacing his voice.

"Shut up. I thought it would work," he mumbled.

Ichigo was confused. He felt his cheeks colour slightly as they laughed at him.

A cero came flying straight for Ikkaku and as it was about to make contact with him, he was suddenly covered by a protective purple sphere. The cero hit the barrier and ricocheted. It flew back to the large Menos and hit it.

"Who the hell is responsible for covering me in this…thing?" Ikkaku asked.

"Um…that would be me." Orihime ran forward and panted. She had fought more in that one day that she had her entire life. She looked at Ichigo's attire and giant weapons and a smile formed on her face. She had expected his power to manifest in something intimidating and so she was not even shocked seeing him as he was.

Ikkaku turned with the intention of shouting and scolding whoever was responsible but as soon as he saw the sweet innocent Orihime his features relaxed.

"Well…thanks," he said, "but I can take care of myself. Now remove it so I can continue this fight." Ikkaku sounded excited as he looked at the number of menos remaining.

The purple sphere disappeared and Ikkaku was ready for more. But before he could charge, pink cherry blossom petals flew towards the remaining Menos and shredded them to death. The tiny blades were no match for anyone once they were scattered and the Menos were all done for.

Ichigo turned and saw the one who had taken care of all eleven menos at once.

"Byakuya…" Ichigo said.

"When will you ever learn your place you buffoon? It's Captain Kuchiki." Renji corrected, his Zabimaru placed casually on his shoulder.

Byakuya looked at Ichigo's appearance and without even saying anything to him, dropped swiftly to one of the roofs that were still intact.

Ichigo followed suit and so did Renji. Renji looked at Ichigo's new look and felt the need to get stronger too.

As soon as Ichigo's feet touched the roof, he was surrounded by the ninjas of the Special Forces, led by none other than the strict Captain Soi Fon. Their weapons were drawn and ready for battle.

"Don't make any sudden movements, Kurosaki." The leader of the Special Forces ordered.

Ichigo did not have time for this, now that his memories had been unlocked and they had already had one encounter with the hooded villain, what they needed to concentrate on was stopping him.

"What the hell is going on?" Renji asked, not liking how this situation was playing out.

"Ichigo Kurosaki…" Soi Fon spoke, her hands folded on her chest and looking as serious and intimidating as ever "…by direct orders from Central 46, you are to be executed."

~xoxo~

**Authors Note: I really enjoyed writing this chapter. Let me know if I did it justice **

Review?

17


	9. Of dark dungeons and hard decisions

The justice system in the soul society was questionable at best. It was strict. Unchanging. Harsh. Rigid.

The Law was absolute and all those who threatened the peace and the balance were banished from the soul society or worse…killed. When Central 46 decreed something, the Special Forces made sure it was carried out. No two ways about it. When an inhumane act was committed or about to be committed, Central 46 became active. Dealing with whoever the perpetrator was, regardless of whether it was friend or foe.

Following the massacre of the Central 46 at the hands of Sosuke Aizen, the council almost lost its status as the most important entity in the soul society. For a while, Genryusai Yamamoto had taken over some of their duties but in no time, new members had started a new council. With a pick at some of the most notable souls in the higher levels of the society, 40 wise men and 6 judges were appointed. Now the Central 46 was much like that of old.

Our orange haired human was locked up in a cell. 1 window, 4 walls and only his thoughts to keep him company. The dungeon he was put into made him feel like a criminal that he was not. The moist, dirty place smelt of mold, blood and death.

It made him sick.

From what he could hear, Ichigo knew he was the only one locked up under there. The only sound other than his breathing was the sound of periodic dripping water from the roof. This was probably a product of an old water pipe that led to the liquid seeping through.

The guards were stationed outside the main door, keeping everyone out and most importantly…keeping him in. They didn't even have the decency to light up the room. The darkness he was in made the situation all the more worrying. He had not seen any of his friends since being brought down here and it made him hurt.

He was not sure how much time hard past but he knew enough had passed…he did after all doze off for a while.

Ichigo Kurosaki sat on the dusty cell bed thinking about the events that had led to him being locked up in the first place. Soi Fon had showed up with the Special Forces and demanded his head on a silver platter.

For reasons unknown to him Central 46 wanted him dead. Ichigo did not like the idea of fighting the people he cared about so he had lowered his weapons and transformed back into his faded jeans and shirt. Shedding the black outfit and losing the chains.

He had let them bind him and had gone quietly with them…after much swearing from Renji, some tear dropping from Orihime and a lot of shouting and trying to reason with Soi Fon from Ichigo himself.

Of course she did not listen.

His execution date had been set. Soi Fon had told him. _In exactly 24 hours he was to be dealt with. _

So here he was in a dark, dank room, locked up for something he did not know. He was seated and waiting for his friends to come up with a way to sort this whole mess out. A way that did not result in any bloodshed. Too many people had died already.

"A penny for your thoughts?" a voice Ichigo recognized sounded from the darkness and then a bulb when on.

The darkness was defeated by the light and the whole room was illuminated. Ichigo's eyes tried to readjust to this new vision and he saw the one person he had not expected to set eyes on.

"You?!" Ichigo said with gritted teeth as he swiftly got up from the bed and took in the lean body of the hooded man with the scythe in his hand. The man he desperately wanted to defeat.

"Oh, don't get up on my account." The hooded man said. "Cozy little place you got stuffed into."

The man even had the balls to tease him? Ichigo's blood started boiling. He wished he could see the face that hid under that dark cover.

"Who the hell are you, you cowardly bastard? Show your face like a man."

The hooded stranger gave an unnerving laugh and it just upset Ichigo more.

"Making demands now, are we?" Don't make me laugh, boy."

"What do you want with me? Why do you keep showing up? Are you trying to taunt me? Is that what you are doing. Answer me you bastard!"

"For starters, I want you not to die…well, not yet at least (He laughed). Second, I keep showing up because what kind of a villain, no villain is such a strong word. Scratch that. What kind of a saviour would it make me if I didn't at least make an appearance to show you all that I have a good plan for your future?" the hooded man said, "And, No Ichigo I am not taunting you, trust me, this is for everybody's good."

"You sick bastard, you will not succeed." Ichigo voiced out. Each second that passed made him even more vengeful.

"I already have…" he said flatly, "I already have."

What exactly did he mean? Was bloodshed and death his only end game? Ichigo was confused.

"What future do you want for us? Why are you doing this? What do you plan to gain from all this chaos you have started?" Ichigo demanded.

"In due time, my impatient one…in due time." the man with the scythe said as he walked closer to Ichigo's cell.

"For now I cannot let you be killed off though. That would just ruin…everything."

"Whatever you are planning, it will not work!" Ichigo shouted at the hooded man as he grabbed hold of the bars imprisoning him. "You hear me? It will not work. I will stop you."

"And how will you do that Ichigo Kurosaki? As powerless as you are, how could you possibly stop me? "

Hearing the man say that made Ichigo heat up. He felt the familiar warmth wash over him and he knew he was going to call forth his new powers. Soon he would be engulfed by the darkness and the red. Giant war cleavers would make their appearance and a black hakama would cover his body.

He was right.

In no time, the dark aura covered the whole expanse of Ichigo's body. Shortly Ichigo knew he would be the one who stopped the man in front of him. As soon as his weapons appeared, he knew he would have the power to end this suffering once and for all.

But life is never that easy now, is it?

A feeling he did not want to be feeling overtook Ichigo and he suddenly dropped to his knees.

_Not now. _He thought. _Anytime but now._

Of all the times for his head to pound, it had to be this time? This very moment?

The spiky haired young man held on to his aching head and almost screamed as the pain almost had his eyes pop out.

"Damn it…" the hooded man said.

A burst of red and black shot out from Ichigo's writhing body and spread out in all directions. It hit the walls once. The walls shook and the cell bars vibrated. Another wave shot out and this time even more intense than the previous.

"What…is…happening…to…me?" he asked through clenched teeth. The pain he was in felt like torture. It was hell and was like nothing Ichigo had ever felt before.

His body felt like it was on fire. He felt like he was being torn apart, like he would suddenly blow up. Imploding within himself.

Blood started dripping from Ichigo's nose and his already pounding head hurt even more. He felt his whole body shake and vibrate and more blood oozed out.

Ichigo groaned and then screamed out shamelessly.

The next burst of power from Ichigo was so powerful that once it made contact with the bars, they vibrated so violently that the roof and the walls almost gave way completely. Concrete and beams fell to the floor and so did the bars - freeing Ichigo in the process. The rubble fell and dust filled the lit dungeon.

Ichigo coughed when the dust surrounded him and closed his eyes as the tiny particles tried to blind him-All the while still suffering from his tormenting headache.

When the dust started to get settled, Ichigo was neither dead nor even hurt…well except for his aching head. The falling concrete had miraculously been kept away from him.

"It may not make sense now," the hooded man said, "but when the time comes and you hear what I have to say, you will see as clear as I do that what I am doing is justified."

The man turned away from the boy on the dirty floor and prepared to leave.

"Wait…you coward! Get…back here." Ichigo called out. "WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS?"

No answer came.

The hooded man was gone.

His presence had completely disappeared.

Ichigo coughed some more as the dust entered his lungs. Blood splattered from his open mouth and stained the already grimy floor.

He heard a sound he was conversant with…the sound of approaching footsteps. Someone was running in the dungeons towards him. No doubt the guards reacting to the noise he had made, Ichigo thought.

"Goddammit strawberry, what the hell have you done now?"

Boy was Ichigo pleased to hear that voice.

"Glad…to…see you too." Ichigo said - still holding the sides of his head.

Misaki stood over him as he was knelling on the dirty floor. The blood had stopped coming out of his nose but the head continued to pain. Ichigo looked up at Misaki and was glad that she had been the one to come in at that moment. He could really use one of her pills.

"Let me guess…" she looked down at him, "you want me to give it to you, right here…right now?" a crooked smile formed on her beautiful face.

Always with the innuendos.

"When…you…say it…like that…" Ichigo struggled to talk through the pain, "my…answer…will…be a definite…no."

"What?" She feigned innocence. She squatted down next to Ichigo reached for the miracle pills in her secure pouch.

"Just…hand…one over."

Misaki held up her index finger and waved in in front of Ichigo. "What's the magic word?"

"You…suck."

Misaki smirked at Ichigo and handed one oval pill over, "Close enough."

Ichigo quickly snatched it and dropped it in his mouth. The pain swiftly left him and he felt like himself again…well almost.

"We need to get moving, the guards that were posted out there might be dead, but more will come. I am sure of it."

Ichigo looked at her with widened eyes. Did she just…

"Relax. I didn't kill them." She said, "They were like that when I got here."

Ichigo didn't know whether to believe her or not…he did after all know just what she was capable of.

"Put this on." Misaki said as she handed Ichigo a metallic, silver looking bangle. "It will prevent your presence from being detected."

"Where did you get this?" Ichigo asked her as he hesitantly got the surprisingly light bangle.

"You ask too many questions, just put on the fucking thing." Misaki said, helping him to his feet. "Let's go, the sooner we get out of here the soon your ass will be safe."

~xoxo~

_Captains meeting._

"Head Captain, I know that deep down you do not agree with the decision made by Central 46." The White haired captain of squad 13 said. "Ichigo Kurosaki has sacrificed so much for the soul society; he does not..."

"Silence!" Head captain Yamamoto said. Cutting off whatever Jushiro Ukitake was planning on saying.

Standing in front of him and in two lines facing each other were all the remaining captains of the 13 court guard squads. They wore their captain's haori, except for captain Shunsui Kyoraku who was dressed in conspicuous pink. All their faces looked conflicted as they tried to understand just why Ichigo was to be killed.

"This matter is something none of you young ones can understand." Yamamoto said, "You will not comment on it foolishly. Central 46 has given an order…we will follow it through."

This comment got the unneeded approval of Soi Fon who nodded in agreement.

"Anybody found aiding the accused will be charged with treason and executed alongside him. No exceptions. This is for the good of the society and the human world." The old man said, "Is that understood?"

The room got silent.

"I do not like this." Kenpachi Zaraki said.

"Your job is not to like it Zaraki," Soi Fon said, "Your job is to follow the order and make sure it is done."

"You piss me off with all your talk of orders and following rules," Kenpachi looked on, "I will not stand around and act like a dog on a leash."

"Did you just call me a dog?" Soi Fon looked ready to kill someone.

Kenpachi leered and looked at the petite woman that was planning on challenging him.

"Careful, Soi Fon." He said, "You do not want me as an opponent."

"These are trying times. We need to stick together and not fight amongst ourselves." Ukitake said. His frail body and white hair making him look sick.

"Ukitake is right," Captain Unohana's calm voice was heard, "we should not be divided, which is why Ichigo Kurosaki must not be exec-"

"The decision is final." Yamamoto said, "Kurosaki WILL be executed."

"Head captain," Hitsugaya started, "what about this hooded man responsible for bombing the institute, shouldn't we at least-"

"Captain Hitsugaya," the oldest captain looked discerningly at the youngest captain, "I respect your work and position as a leader of one of the squads but this meeting is not about the man in the shadows who has not even come out to claim responsibility. This is about central 46 and their order concerning the human."

"I find this boring." The captain with the eye patch said. He had always hated these meetings.

Kenpachi then took one step away from the line and started walking away.

The door suddenly burst open as a Soul reaper ran in, panting and out of breath.

"Forgive my intrusion captains." He said as he got to the floor on one knee and bowed his head, "the prisoner has escaped."

A smile formed on Kenpachi's face. This was going to be good.

"What?" the head captain asked. What was the point of even having him guarded if he was just going to make a run for it? "Where were the guards?"

_What are you doing Ichigo Kurosaki? _Yamamoto thought.

"All the guards that were posted outside the cells are dead, head captain - Every last one of them. There appears to have been an explosion of some sort inside." The bowing Soul reaper explained.

"Find him," the head captain turned his full attention back to the captains, "all of you…this is the number one priority now. Find Ichigo Kurosaki…NOW! This is to be considered an emergency order."

Kurotsuchi was most pleased hearing this. He had some unfinished business with the orange haired boy. He thought about what was to come next and a huge grin formed on his face.

As a scientist, Ichigo was to be his greatest discovery.

~xoxo~

_The sewers, Seireitei._

Misaki had lead Ichigo to the underground sewers. He had hidden under these familiar corridors and wetness in times before. As soon as she had brought him down here, she had gone to the surface to bring his friends to him.

So for now, Ichigo was sitting with his back leaning against one of the walls thinking about all manner of things. How had it all turned out like this? How was it back in Karakura town? Was his family safe? Had the hollows attacked again?

He was so lost in his thoughts that he did not even hear the approaching sound of people.

"Well don't you look comfy?" A voice Ichigo hasn't heard in a long time spoke from the shadows.

As the figure got closer, Ichigo saw the short soul reaper with a habit of hitting him and calling him an _idiot _every chance she got.

"Rukia…" he said and quickly got up from the floor.

He was so glad to see his midget friend that he almost went to hug her…almost.

"I leave you for a year and you think it is okay to just get reckless and be arrested, waiting for an execution…" the short Soul reaper said. "What the hell did you do this time you idiot?" Rukia looked at him and concern was seen all over her face no matter how hard she tried to hide it.

Ichigo scratched the back of his head sheepishly and looked at her, "Heck if I know…" he said, "I think…"

"…all those pretentious jerks in central 46 are sons of dick sucking whores." Misaki said, interrupting Ichigo's words. She walked over to Ichigo and Rukia with Uryu, Orihime and Renji shortly behind her.

They all stared at her wide eyed, Orihime's jaw dropping as she looked at the outspoken soul reaper.

"Oh wow." Rukia said. She shook her head as she took in what Misaki had just said,

Ichigo looked at Orihime and almost took a step forward in her direction but he stopped himself just in time. Orihime looked at him, glad that he was alive and out of harm's way for the time being.

"What?" Misaki said, "Show me someone who likes central 46 and I will show you someone who has a stick far up their ass. I thought they would change how they operate after the last ones all got wiped out. That psycho Aizen did this world a huge favour."

Everybody gasped at looked at her. The girl was too honest.

"Say that kind of stuff in the wrong company and you will be executed for treason." Rukia told the blue haired one.

"Exactly my point." She said as she looked at Rukia. "So quick to kill off anybody who thinks for themselves and desires change. This society is a fucking joke. I kind of liked it when head captain was in charge before they appointed these new pricks."

They seriously needed to change the topic before Misaki found a way to squeeze in every curse word she knew while she talked about central 46.

"Anyway," Uryu looked at Ichigo, "she says that she found you in a dusty dungeon with no guards with you…what happened?"

"It was him. He was outside my cell. He came to see me." Ichigo said.

"The shrouded man?" Uryu asked. "What did he want?"

Ichigo told his friends all that had happened and they all listened carefully, making sure not to miss out on any details. Uryu in particular was most intrigued.

"This is getting interesting." Uryu said.

"Whatever." Ichigo said. He did not find it interesting at all, he found it annoying. "How long do I have to stay down here?"

"As long as it takes idiot," Rukia said, "the whole Seireitei is out looking for you."

"Um…maybe you should just go back to Karakura town." Orihime said as she looked at him. She looked more worried than Ichigo wanted her to be. He did not like seeing her like that. It made him hurt.

"I am not going to run away Orihime." Ichigo replied.

"It isn't exactly running away you fool," Rukia looked at Ichigo seriously, and then turned to face Orihime, "she is right. Maybe if you left the soul society this entire thing might just blow over."

"I said…I. Am. Not. Running. Away."

"You are a stubborn dick you know that, right?" Renji said, his toned arms folded. "So frustrating, what exactly do you want to prove? We all know what you are capable of but you are no use to any of us dead Ichigo."

"I know that. Which is why I have to get to the bottom of all this. That smug bastard has to be stopped."

"You cannot shoulder all this on your own Ichigo. Central 46 is out for blood, you cannot afford to be reckless." Uryu finally chipped in.

Ichigo felt like they were all ganging up on him and he slumped to the floor in frustration.

"I am not going to run away." He said in a low voice. "There is so much I have to protect."

Renji shook his head, "Dick."

"Stop calling me a dick, you tattooed bastard." Ichigo retorted, "I know what I am doing dammit."

"So, does anybody else feel cold?" Misaki asked.

They all looked at her confused until they all felt the chill in the air.

"Now that you mention it, yes." Uryu said, the warm air coming out of his mouth misted as it made contact with the colder one.

"Let's go," Rukia kicked Ichigo then whispered, "I think we have been discovered."

Ichigo got up and they prepared to start running.

"Hyorinmaru!"

The murky water in the drainage became frozen solid and the passage way they were planning on running into got barricaded with ice.

There was no way to escape.

"Not so fast." Behind them came Toshiro Hitsugaya's firm voice.

They all turned and found the white haired captain standing behind them, his Zanpakutou in his hand, Rangiku standing by his side with her boobs practically pouring out of her hakama and a group of other Shinigami standing behind them.

Ichigo did not like this.

"Shit." Renji said as he unsheathed his Zabimaru.

~xoxo~

_Urahara's Store, Karakura town._

"Tessai" Urahara called, sitting in front of his computer and not sure how exactly he was going to fix the mess that was about to come.

Tessai walked in shortly, not liking how the scientist's voice was sounding.

"What have you found out?" Tessai asked.

"It is just as I feared. My initial thought was correct." Urahara said and then sighed.

This was not good.

"It's bad isn't it?"

"Worse than I imagined." Urahara's response came.

"And Ichigo?" Tessai looked at his hat wearing friend.

Urahara did not even need to respond. The look that Tessai saw on his face spoke volumes. In fact it said more than he wanted to know at the time.

"I think it's time for my return to the soul society." The clogs wearing man said. "I just hope I am not too late."

~xoxo~

_The sewers, Seireitei. _

"Toshiro, you don't have to do this." Ichigo tried to reason with the boy captain in front of him.

"On the contrary I do. And the name is Captain Hitsugaya." The cold captain said.

Misaki, Renji and Rukia were all already in battle stances. Their Zanpakutou were drawn and they were all looking challengingly at the Shinigami in front of them.

Uryu stood next to the wall, not even bothering to produce any of his spiritual weapons and Orihime stood next to Ichigo. In her mind she was ready to cover them all in a protective barrier just in case Toshiro did not see reason and actually attacked them.

The air between the two sides was intense. It was a Mexican standoff…Zanpakutou edition.

"You will come with us now Kurosaki." Hitsugaya said.

He swung his sword and more ice was produced, backing them up in a corner – trapping them even more.

"Toshiro, stop this." Ichigo pleaded, "You know me, I didn't do anything wrong."

"That is no concern of mine. I got an order and I am following it. Now you will either come quietly or I will take you by force…your choice Kurosaki."

"Sorry about this captain." Renji said then faced the ice wall, "NOW ROAR, ZABIMARU."

The Zanpakutou extended towards the ice wall and shattered it down.

A way out was seen…an escape route created.

"Go I will hold them off." Renji said, gripping his Zabimaru firmly in his hands.

"Ichigo! this way." Orihime grabbed hold of his arm and started running with him.

She had not intended it to happen but she just found herself doing it.

"You will not get away that easily." Hitsugaya said, getting upset that they were underestimating him.

"Bakudou Number 63: Sojou Sabaku." The bright current shot off from the white haired captain and made contact with Ichigo. Ichigo was pushed against the far wall and was immediately bound. The impact with the wall shocked him.

He was trapped.

No matter how much he tried to break free, he just couldn't.

"Ichigo!" Orihime said, feeling bad that she had been too slow and had allowed the way of binding to have made contact with Ichigo.

"Do not underestimate me. Now stop all this useless fighting back." Hitsugaya said.

Rangiku just stood fixed to the ground…no idea what she should be doing. She cared about her captain but there was no way she could just hand over Ichigo for execution. It was crazy. Had central 46 completely forgotten about the actual threat that was still out there? Did they not want to stop whoever was behind the bombing? What wrong had Ichigo done exactly?

"Rangiku, snap out of it" Hitsugaya gave his lieutenant a side glance "We should not let them escape."

Renji swung his Zabimaru in Ichigo's direction. The weapon extended and when it made contact with the binding imprisoning Ichigo, the orange haired young man was freed. He clumsily dropped to the floor and looked at Toshiro.

"What the hell is wrong with you? Are you just going to follow your orders blindly, even if it might get your friends killed? Ichigo shouted.

The white haired ice user recoiled for a second, clearly torn between duties and doing what he felt was right.

"I know you don't want to do this. Just let us go." Ichigo spoke but the captain held his ground, "Toshiro, there is a mad man on the loose, now is not the time for this."

Hitsugaya stood firmly and still looked dangerously at Ichigo. The air was still icycold and it looked like he was not going to back down.

"Captain…" Rukia said, looking intently at him. He wasn't seriously going to turn them in, was he?

Hitsugaya sighed and then relaxed. He sheathed his Hyorinmaru and then folded his arms. "Get going." He said, "Quickly now, before I change my mind."

Ichigo smiled at him "Thank you, Toshiro." Then he gave him a nod of approval. The whole gang then made a quick dash away from the captain and his subordinates.

"Let's go. There is nothing down here." The young captain said.

Toshiro Hitsugaya could feel the piercing eyes of his busty lieutenant on him.

"What?" he asked.

"Oh, nothing." Rangiku smiled and then she ran towards him and hugged him from behind, her huge chest crushing against his white head and looking inappropriate to the other soul reapers present. "I just like how you act all cold and uncaring when we both know you have a huge heart in your little chest."

The captain tried to break away from her boobie embrace but the inappropriate Rangiku held on to him. She was laughing all the while, happy that he had come to his senses and let his friends escape.

~xoxo~

The footsteps of Ichigo Kurosaki and his friends echoed in the darkness of the sewers as they ran. That had been a close one. Ichigo was glad that it had been Toshiro who had found them and not someone who cannot be swayed like Soi Fon.

They ran some more until Orihime gave a loud yelp and when Ichigo looked back he found her fallen to the ground. He quickly stopped in his tracks and ran back to her.

"Are you okay?" he asked as he helped her to her feet. His held on to her hands and a memory of their time outside Urahara's store flashed in his mind.

_Damn it. Not now._

Rukia also made it to her side and stared at her. A look of concern was seen on the shorter one's face.

"I am okay." Orihime smiled as she tried to wipe the dirt and wetness from her borrowed skirt.

"Are you sure?" Ichigo asked again, not believing her to be telling the truth.

Orihime nodded as she smiled again.

Ichigo was still holding on to her, almost like he was afraid that she might fall again.

"It's what you get for wearing such a long skirt when there is a chance you will be in battles and running about." Misaki said.

"Um…it is okay." Orihime said, she looked at the skirt and remembered how all the other clothes had failed to fit her.

"You look like a fucking nun." Misaki said as she shook her head. "How the hell do you expect to fight in that getup?"

Then without warning, she quickly walked over to Orihime and unsheathed her katana. As soon as it was out, she proceeded to trimming Orihime's skirt.

"What are you-"

She cut it so short that it went past Orihime's mid thighs. Orihime was glad that she had worn thigh high tights with the combat boots. This way it did not look so provocative with her soft feminine thighs not completely visible.

"There." Misaki said as she handed the cut off material to Orihime.

Orihime felt exposed and like she was on display as everyone looked at her. The look that Uryu gave her made her feel the most uncomfortable. Then as quickly as it had appeared, it disappeared and then he looked away.

Ichigo was still standing by her side. He was not holding her anymore but she was still aware of him. She was still conscious of his presence.

"I do hope you are wearing panties under that." The blue haired soul reaper said and Orihime reddened. She almost wished the ground would just swallow her up. This was not something that normal people discussed…especially in front of men.

Rukia's fist made contact with Misaki's stomach and the tease flinched, "Idiot!" Rukia said.

"What the hell kind of girl are you?"

"Dammit, that hurt." Misaki tried to straighten up.

"Serves you right. That was for making Orihime uncomfortable."

"So what are you now, besties? _Melons_ and _mosquito bites_…how cute." Misaki teased.

Rukia was ready to punch her again. Misaki did not look like she would let this one go as easily as the previous. She was ready to hit back this time.

"Um...guys it's okay." Orihime cut in "can we not do this."

Rukia looked ready to draw blood. She hadn't known Misaki for long. In fact she didn't know much about her for that matter, but the few times they have met and hung out, her way of teasing and always saying the wrong thing never sat well with Rukia.

The girl was beyond inappropriate.

Rukia however did admire the girl's strength and drive when it came to fighting. It had only been a year since she graduated from the academy but already she had made a name for herself. Being known as a great fighter and even going as far as not only joining the brawler squad captained by Kenpachi Zaraki but also managing to be a better fighter that Yumichika and earning herself a place as the fourth seat of the squad. It was all rather impressive.

Of course this did not bother Yumichika at all, who preferred being the fifth seat either way.

Rukia relaxed after sometime. No need to let the blue haired one get to her.

"Where the heck are we going to now?" Ichigo asked, still standing closer to Orihime than he should have been.

"The best place to be right now is right where we are." Renji said, 'If my thought is correct, Toshiro will tell the others that he has already searched the sewers. No way will any more teams come down here."

"I guess you are right." Ichigo said, "I hate this."

The idea of being thought of as a criminal or a fugitive was something Ichigo could not stand.

"We all do." Rukia said. "Whatever central 46 is trying to do, I hope they get back to their senses. I believe we have bigger things to think of."

"I just wish I knew what it is I am being accused of." Ichigo said as he passed his hands in his spiky hair.

"I hate this."

~xoxo~

_Central 46 compound, Seireitei._

"I trust you do not need us to emphasize the importance of this matter, Head captain Yamamoto." A member of central 46 said. His voice sounded in the whole room and the other members looked seriously at Yamamoto. All of them nodded in agreement.

The head captain was standing in the middle of the room, the 46 wise men and 6 judges looking down at him from high in their seats as they tried to stress the urgency of the situation they were in.

"I know how dangerous these times are about to become." Yamamoto said, "I know just how vital success is in these kinds of times. We cannot afford to be weak."

"But yet you ask the council to reconsider its stance on the execution of this…abomination." A feminine voice said, "Why do you want to save this demon possessed monstrosity? It will bring about nothing but the end of us all."

"He is just a boy." Yamamoto said, an image of the young man's face went through his mind.

There had to be a way to save him and protect the world.

"A _boy_ that is about to disrupt the balance and destroy the worlds as we know them. And now we hear that he killed his guards, it has already began. We cannot delay." A voice was heard. "The law is absolute on this one Yamamoto. You know this."

"You of all people know what would happen if that gateway was opened." Another voice said.

_Upheaval._

_The horror._

_The darkness._

_Death._

_The end._

The old man heard that last comment and he knew what had to be done was justified. The life of one human could not outweigh the lives of the many lives and souls that would be destroyed if the plan that was underway was a total success.

He knew it was harsh. He knew it was a cold rigid decision.

The head captain took a deep breath and felt no regret about what was to follow. He looked up at the newly appointed central 46 because he knew and believed with every fiber in his being…Ichigo Kurosaki had to be killed.

**~xoxo~**

_**(ElevatedJewel *hug, Saint Sita, KazumaKaname, Anthony11899 and sheblunar …THANKS GUYS.)**_

**Author's Note: **So yeah I know I am beyond late for this update (well I get the feeling no one even reads this fic anymore …does **getting NO reviews** mean I am improving or I have become so bad that people just ignore it now? What does it mean? Hello can anyone hear me?)

**Any way thanks for reading and let me know what you think.**

**Next chappie comes out within 7 days…be on the lookout.**

**-Ja ne.**

20


	10. Of realms and hornets

_**Author's note: So some 'facts' in this chapter may or may not be true but they make for really awesome writing. Hahaha. (Evil Laugh).**_

_**Anyway Read and Review **___

_**~xoxo~**_

_Captain's meeting, 48 hours later._

"Explain to me how a boy has managed to evade not only the stealth force, but all the captains of the 13 Court Guard squads?" the head captain's voice echoed in the room as once again a meeting was called to order.

"It has been two days and still no word has reached me of any sighting of the human boy!" He held on to his staff and looked at the captains standing in front of him.

"Head captain," Soi Fon started, "I take full responsibility for this failure. There is something hindering the sensing of the human boy. It is like his presence is not even in this world. I have mobilized more of my men to search twice in all possible places that he could be hiding. We will find him."

"That is not good enough!" he banged his staff on the floor once for emphasis.

"Yes, Head Captain. We shall double our efforts." Soi Fon responded. Feeling angry with herself for not succeeding yet.

"These circumstances are suspicious. The only thing I can think of is that he is getting help avoiding detection and staying hidden." The old captain said.

Hitsugaya looked down in shame as he remembered how he had let Ichigo go when he encountered him in the sewers.

"If it turns out that any of you is aiding the fugitive, I will not hesitate to group you with him and give you a punishment befitting of your crimes. Find the fugitive immediately."

The captains were all silent. They had never seen they had captain quite like this.

"This meeting is over," the Head Captain thundered.

~xoxo~

_The sewers, Soul Society_

The quietness in the sewers was like the calm right before the storm. The three friends stood in silence as they heard voices and footsteps right above them. Ichigo was still in hiding and Orihime together with Rukia had come down to bring him some food and fresh water. Misaki and Renji were with their squads 'helping' them with the locating of the wanted fugitive. And Uryu was up there too pretending to be offering a helping hand.

Ichigo was losing his patience.

"Goddammit, how long do I have to hide down here?" said an exasperated Ichigo.

Being forced to live in the sewers for two whole days had been torture. His friends came and went so that they would not arouse suspicion but he, however, was still stuck down in this dark wet place. The good thing was that he had begged Misaki to give him some of her pills just in case his head decided to start misbehaving again. She had hesitated at first but in the end had left him with just four.

"Just a little while longer. It's still not safe up there." Orihime said.

She had been lucky enough to get an invite from Rukia to stay at the Kuchiki estate. She wished she could have stayed down here with him but that would have been both inappropriate and dangerous.

But at least they had managed to sneak some blankets, a futon and food down for Ichigo.

"I am so tired of just hiding and that psycho is still out there!"

"Idiot!"

Rukia punched him in the ribs and Ichigo doubled over, clutching at them.

"What the hell was that for?" he shouted at her, rubbing the area she had just punched him. He had missed her but this kind of treatment he could do without. In spite of her size, the girl carried a punch.

"Do you have any idea what we are risking just by helping your fugitive ass?" Rukia was ready to pinch him again. "Quit your whining and stay put. The whole Seireitei is still on the lookout for your orange head. Don't you know what would happen if you went to the surface now?"

"I still think we are wasting precious time. Have you heard any new developments about the hooded man?" Ichigo asked.

"Nothing since the last information I gave you." Rukia answered.

In the past days he had heard that the hollow attacks in both the Seireitei and the human world had reduced. Captain Kurotsuchi had somehow managed to temporarily fix the veil between Hueco Mundo and the other worlds. This was good.

What wasn't good was the fact that humans had now developed abilities and changes to their bodies that were now bringing about chaos. The changes were confusing for most; so much that they had given in to violent tendencies.

Ichigo was glad that his family was still safe. Rukia had been checking in on them.

Despite all this though, there was still no word about the man with the scythe. It unnerved Ichigo not knowing exactly what the bad guy was up to.

"What about Chad…have you heard anything from him? Has Kisuke heard anything from him?" Ichigo asked. As soon as his memories had been recovered he had been curious as to why Chad wasn't with them or where exactly he was.

"Nothing still." Rukia said, "and there is no sign of Kisuke either."

"What?" Ichigo asked, "Where the hell is he?"

"I don't know. He is not at his store and that is all I know."

"I have to go up there now."

"Ichigo-" Orihime started.

Rukia's eye twitched. Ichigo always got on her nerves with his stubbornness so she proceeded to stomping on his foot with all the strength she had.

"Ow!" he hopped on one leg as the pain hit him.

"Have you not been listening to a word that we have been saying to you? It isn't safe to go out there yet." Rukia folded her arms then shook her head in disbelief, "Come on Orihime, we need to get out of here before I end up killing some idiot."

"Um..." Orihime hesitated.

She actually was not ready to leave Ichigo alone just yet. She looked expectantly at him.

"It's okay Orihime. I'll be fine down here." He reassured her with a smile and then slumped down to the makeshift futon in the corner.

"Are you sure?"

"Yeah." Ichigo said, "I'm sure."

Ichigo could have used some company, but what would he have been talking to her about in this secluded place if she remained? The image of that night outside Urahara's store was still fresh in his mind.

"Orihime, you worry too much." Rukia looked at the busty girl.

"I guess…umm we will come and check on you again, okay?" she told Ichigo.

Ichigo didn't doubt it.

"And don't you dare think about coming to the surface, you fool. If you do…" she looked at him and gave a straight face, "…I will kick you into next week." Rukia threatened.

Ichigo did not doubt that she meant it.

~xoxo~

_Squad 10 barracks, Seireitei._

"Captain." Rangiku called out to her white haired superior.

The captain was deep in thought. Acting like he didn't know where the former human fugitive was starting to get to him.

"What is it Rangiku?" he asked.

"I just wanted to find out something," she looked around to make sure no one was listening, "you are not planning on telling on Ichigo are you? You have been acting rather strange."

"Deception has that effect on one's soul Rangiku." He said matter-of-factly. "But you can relax; I will maintain my stance on this. The human is safe."

Rangiku sighed and then smiled.

"Phew, I was getting worried for a second there."

The young captain just shook his head.

"We will not discuss this again." Hitsugaya said as he started walking away. "And don't you have paperwork to get through? Get back to work, Lieutenant."

"Huh?" Rangiku's jaw almost dropped as she heard that last. Paperwork now of all times?

"Oh, captain…" Rangiku called out, "…I almost forgot; I scheduled a meeting for you and the other captains and their lieutenants in your office. It will happen this evening."

"I did not ask for such a meeting." Hitsugaya turned back in shock and anger.

"I know captain, but this is urgent. Trust me."

Hitsugaya sighed.

"Very well." He said, "Now back to that paperwork."

Damn.

There was just no slacking off with her captain. She could really use some sake in that moment.

~xoxo~

_The sewers, Soul Society._

_After boredom had almost driven Ichigo insane he had finally passed out on the futon. In the darkness of sleep and the never ending oblivion of his mind, Ichigo was plagued by nightmares and all the stuff that hell was made of._

_His mind was tormented by images he did not want to see. He saw his former classmates dead on the floor, a perverted crab sadistically playing with an unsuspecting female, Misaki spearing her blades in a rapist's chest._

_Ichigo tossed and turned and in his sleep he felt the blood in him writhe and boil. The images got more graphic and he wished to wake up from the nightmare._

_He saw images of his family being attacked by hollows-Yuzu screaming for her life and Karin not being able to do anything about it. His father sprawled down the stairs in his own blood as a masked hollow walked away from the scene._

_The flashes got more horrifying when all he could see was blood. The whole world was covered in darkness and…._

"_Ichigo! Ichigo!" He heard Orihime's voice. "Wake up Ichigo."_

_Abruptly he woke up and found her shaking him. How long had she been trying to pull him out of that darkness?_

_Ichigo felt strange but he couldn't quite put a finger on it._

"_Bad Dream?" She asked._

"_Yeah." He said. He was breathless, panting, and his forehead sweaty._

_He wiped his forehead and sat up straight, his back against the cold wall._

"_How long have you been down here?" He asked as he got a water bottle, opened it and let cool liquid go down his throat. His head got a sharp pain for only for a second and he paid no mind to it._

_He still felt strange though._

"_Not Long. I just got here and heard you almost screaming and writhing on the floor." Orihime said as she looked at his face._

"_Thanks...for waking me up." _

"_Um...what are friends for?" She gave him a sweet smile. She moved on the futon and sat next to him, her back also to the wall._

_He really felt strange. Strange feelings and even stranger thoughts stalked his brain._

"_You shouldn't be here Orihime." Ichigo said as he turned his head to face her. _

"_Ha ha." She laughed nervously, "It's okay…I-I don't mind, really."_

_There it was again. The foreign feeling. The unwelcomed thoughts._

"_Is…that…so?" He said as he moved his hand and placed it on her thigh. The shorts she wore looked cute, even though she wore leggings in them. She had taken Misaki's advice and had stopped with the granny skirts. _

"_Ic-Ichigo…"Orihime said, her voice breathless…unable to even say the words correctly, "what-what are you doing?"_

_He moved his calloused hand higher up her thighs and a devious smile formed on his face. Ichigo inched closer to Orihime's face and prepared to place his lips on her soft ones. All the while, his hand rode higher up her thigh._

"_Ichi-Ichigo, you are not being yourself." Orihime told him as she halted the movement of his hand._

"_That's strange, I feel just fine. Do you want me to stop?" He smirked at her for a second before his mouth captured hers._

_Orihime froze. This wasn't the Ichigo she knew. But a part of her felt tempted. And… she gave in._

_For a while Orihime kissed him back. Why wouldn't she? He was the man she admired. It was Ichigo kissing her. After all this time, he finally saw her in the same light that she saw him._

_But it didn't feel right. It felt too rushed. Especially when he grabbed her waist roughly and moved his hands lower and picked her up quickly. He placed her on his laps and continued the kiss that was taking everything out of Orihime._

_She fought against his kiss and tried to talk to him._

"_Ich-Ichigo…stop! This is going too fast."_

"_Shh…" he said as he once again dove in for a kiss. He held on to her waist even harder._

"_I said stop!" Orihime pulled away from him. _

_She put up her protective dome and when it zapped away Ichigo's hands from her waist she quickly rolled off him._

"_I have wanted to do that for a very…very long time." He turned his head slowly to her side._

_Ichigo laughed at her as she looked at him with shocked eyes._

"_Now come on, queen, let the king have some fun." Ichigo said with a crazed grin on his face._

_Orihime got up. She looked down at the orange haired boy and could not believe what she was hearing or seeing._

"_This-this isn't ha-happening." The shocked Orihime stammered._

_The seated Ichigo gave out a diabolical laugh that sent shivers down Orihime's spine._

_He got up faster than Orihime could see and before she could react, he had her pinned to the cold wall…her hands places high above her head. His lips claimed hers again but Orihime moved her head before he could deepen the kiss. This made Ichigo's mouth slip and make contact with her neck. He 'accidentally' bruised her neck with his teeth and blood started slipping out._

"_That's gonna leave a mark." He smiled like a man insane. _

_Orihime once again produced her purple protection and used it with force to push the insane acting Ichigo away from her. The power with which she did this threw Ichigo to the far opposite wall, passed the water in the drainage and he crushed into it, hard. He slumped to the floor and a crazy laugh erupted from him._

_He continued to laugh despite the obvious pain that he was in._

"_You know you want me just as much as I want you so stop this pretending queen and let's get this party started." _

_He got up again and leapt over the water so he could grab her again._

"_Ichigo, no!" Orihime screamed, her eyes widened in fear._

_The psycho Ichigo kept on going in the path he was on. It was good to be king._

"_Stop it!" her shield was up._

_Ichigo didn't care._

Ichigo's eyes snapped open.

A sweaty Ichigo woke up from his slumber and looked around the place he was in. He was now seated on his futon, still in the sewers.

"What the hell?" he passed his hands in his spiky hair and then palmed his face.

What kind of a messed up dream was that? A dream within a dream? Why did it feel like he was dreaming about his hollow self?

"Damn, I am losing my mind!" he shouted out.

"A sane mind is so overrated." Ichigo heard Kurotsuchi's voice from beyond the darkness.

The young man got to his feet before the crazy scientist showed himself. But that wasn't really helpful because, before Ichigo could even do anything a tranquilizer dart hit him in his chest.

"What the-"

He quickly dropped to the floor in a stupor.

"I can't take any chances with you." The captain of squad 12 finally showed his face. His signature grin donning his face and behind him was his lieutenant.

"Y-you..f-f-fill..n-not…getffff…" Ichigo mumbled as the drug took effect. "…awjjfff…ittffmm"

'Do not try to talk, Specimen Zero. The drug I injected you with is quite potent and one of my more amazing inventions if I do say so myself. I have no need for chatter from my test subject so feel free to be quiet." Kurotsuchi said with the dart gun still in his hands.

He had finally found his test subject. The grin on his face widened.

"Nemu!" he turned to the girl behind and grabbed on to her ear, squeezed it and pulled her forward, "carry him off the floor now! Do I have to do everything myself you useless girl?"

Nemu obeyed and jumped gracefully over the water in the drainage that was between them and Ichigo. She picked him up and put him on her shoulder easily.

Ichigo could neither talk nor move. This really was a pinch he had gotten himself into. How the hell did it get to this point?

When Kurotsuchi saw Ichigo's hand dangling down and the metallic bangle he was wearing, he leaned in closer.

"What is that?!" he studied it even closer then smiled when realization hit.

"I am afraid you will not be needing this anymore. I have something even better."

He took off the bangle and dropped it to the floor with disgust. Then reached into his sleeves and got a syringe with a blue liquid. Then without hesitating jabbed it in into Ichigo's numb neck.

"Oh, don't give me that look. This is nothing personal." Kurotsuchi said to Ichigo, "I am a scientist first and anything else second."

~xoxo~

"That stupid, stubborn, dead fool walking!" Rukia commented when the gang returned down the sewers and found no sign of Ichigo. "I'm going to kill him. I swear it. I'm going to kill him!"

"Not before I do it first. That annoying bastard will get what's coming to him." Renji said, "Where the hell could he have gone off to?"

"He is so infuriating!" Rukia wanted to punch his head in at that moment. "I asked him to do one thing…one thing."

"I knew I should have stayed down here with him." Uryu pushed his glasses up his nose.

"No point in staying down this stink hole any longer." Misaki told them. "Let's get out of here."

"You're right. The sooner we can out of here, the sooner we can pump some sense into him." Rukia said as she started walking away.

"Hey, jugs are you okay?" Misaki asked Orihime. "You seem more quiet than usual."

Orihime waved her hands and smiled at her, "umm…Oh yes, I am fine. I am just worried about Ichigo that's all."

She hoped that he could fight through whatever it was. Going up and walking around in the Seireitei wasn't the best thing for him.

"We need to find him soon…before someone else does." She said.

"I swear if he gets himself killed, I will kill him." Renji said.

They all looked at him and Misaki laughed.

"Oh shut up! You know what I mean." Renji ignored them.

They walked away until Orihime stepped on something strange. She bent down and picked it up.

"Hey wasn't that the thing Ichigo was wearing?" Rukia asked.

"Son of a bitch!" Misaki commented. Uryu looked at her with curious eyes.

"What's wrong?" Orihime asked. "Is this bad? Does this mean something bad?"

"Hey Misaki, say something." Renji moved closer to her, "What does this mean?"

"Is he in more trouble that we think?" Rukia moved even closer, grabbing the bangle from Orihime and staring at it curiously. "Misaki, do you know something we don't?"

Misaki snatched the bangle and threw it in the dirty sewer water.

"Get off my case all of you okay!" she spoke out, "It just means we need to move fast. That jerk just made things worse."

If only they knew that their friend had not left the safety of the sewers on his free will. Ichigo's fate was no longer in his own hands… and at the mercy of Kurotsuchi. Who knew what was to become of him?

~xoxo~

_Captain Hitsugaya's office, Seireitei._

"Really Rangiku, you couldn't have picked a different venue than my office?" Toshiro said as he looked at all the people cramped up in his office. From his desk he felt like they were overstepping on some boundaries.

"It was short notice, captain." Rangiku answered.

The captains of the 13 court guard squads that had managed to show up for the meeting included, Byakuya, Ukitake, Shunsui, Unohana, Kenpachi and Soi Fon . The other attendants were Nanao, Rukia, Orihime, Renji, Uryu, Shuuhei, Izuru, Isane, Ikkaku, Yumichika, Misaki and Omaeda. Apart from the captains who stood proud, everyone else was seated on the floor waiting for the meeting to commence.

"What is this meeting about anyway?" Toshiro asked as he looked around.

The looks he got gave him the impression none of them knew why they were here.

"Can we just hurry this up?!" Kenpachi said, "I don't have time to waste."

"Of course, Zaraki," Soi Fon scoffed, "You are too busy being insubordinate and not following the rules" her arms were folded across her chest.

"Why don't you put your sword where your mouth is, Soi Fon?" Kenpachi looked mildly amused.

"Captain Soy milk is always picking a fight with Kenny." Yachiru said as she jumped from Kenpachi's shoulder down to Misaki's.

"More like captain bitch ninja." Misaki muttered under her breath.

"I am not picking a fight. I am the leader of the stealth force. I have no time for people who don't follow the rules." Soi Fon corrected.

"Oh my, some things never change, do they?" A familiar voice was heard by the door.

"You?!" Soi Fon looked at the man standing there. She unsheathed her katana and sprinted forward to deal with him.

"Sting all enemies to death: Suzumebachi!" Her weapon glowed white and a black and golden gauntlet appeared on her arm. A small chain linked it to a stinger-like blade on her middle finger.

She aimed the stinger straight for the man at the door.

"Kisuke Urahara!" She shouted.

Her efforts were foiled when a dark hand stopped her in her tracks and held her off her attack.

"I see you are still doing the killing and leaving the talking for later." The woman who held her in place said.

"Lady Yoruichi!" Soi Fon relaxed when she saw the purple haired woman, a light blush appearing on her cheeks.

"Easy now Soi Fon, we are all on the same side." Yoruichi said as she let of the now calmed down captain of squad 2.

"Phew…that was a close one, don't you all think?" Kisuke said as he adjusted his hat, keeping his eyes from view.

Soi Fon looked coldly at him. Kisuke just smiled and did a peace sign.

"So, you are the one behind all this?" She said. Not even attempting to hide the frown on her face.

Kisuke scratched the back of his neck and smiled self-consciously, "Um…yes."

"What is this about, Kisuke?" Captain Ukitake asked.

"I am sure a lot of you are curious to know why a class one execution order has been given for Ichigo."

"That's an understatement." Ikkaku said.

Everyone suddenly got quiet. This is information that they all wanted to know.

"We need Ichigo to hear this as well. It would be best if we moved this meeting to somewhere he can also attend." Kisuke said.

"Well that's gonna be hard." Misaki said.

Kisuke looked confused.

"I thought you guys were hiding him?"

"The orange haired fool is missing. He is no longer in the sewers."

"The sewers?" Soi Fon looked suspiciously at the captain in charge of searching that particular area.

"That damned Ichigo." Hitsugaya swore under his breath.

"What was that?" Soi Fon lost her temper as she moved closer to Toshiro's desk. "You knew where he was hiding and you kept it from the Head Captain?"

Toshiro kept quiet. What was the point in denying or accepting it?

"I am disappointed in you, Captain Hitsugaya. You have brought shame not only to yourself but to your entire division with what you have done. How can you live with yourself? Honour is a warrior's greatest treasure. It is all we have and you just foolishly threw away yours…over what? Silly notions of friendship."

"Enough!" Hitsugaya said as he stood up, his hands placed strongly on the desk, "I will not be made to feel bad about something I did and had no regrets about."

"Your blatant disregard for the orders will get you killed. When the head captain finds –"

"I did what I felt was right at the time. The head captain's orders were less than favourable."

"He had a good reason for making you follow those orders through." Kisuke said.

They all stared at him, waiting for more information.

"What?" Toshiro asked, sinking back into his chair.

"Put simply…yes, Ichigo is a threat."

Soi Fon scowled and shook her head almost like the very sight of the young captain sitting behind the desk made her sick.

"Um…I don't understand. What did Ichigo do?" Orihime asked. Her eyes sparkled with wetness as a chill went down her entire body. She pulled the coat she was wearing closer to her body and tightened her scarf.

"That's what I wanna know too." Renji said.

"Nothing yet." The former squad 12 captain answered.

"I have figured out what this bad guy wants but why he wants it, I still don't know. What I do know though is that he needs Ichigo to do it." Kisuke said as he walked in the office.

"What you may all know is that there are many realms where souls and humans live -this soul society and human world being two of them. And I believe most of you have been to Hueco Mundo. In all these, travel is possible between them and souls can enter and leave at one time or the other. But what you may not know is that there is one realm where souls can only enter but never leave. Once souls enter, there is only one way out; an ancient gateway that has never been opened. I believe that this man in the shadows wants to open that gateway. Doing so will not only bring imbalance but might end all the realms as we know them."

"What is this realm you speak of?" Byakuya spoke, his voice calm despite the situation.

Kisuke removed his hat and twirled it, waiting a moment before speaking. He placed it back on his head with a sense of calmness. "The land of the Leviathan. It is the place where souls destroyed by the Quincy and those devoured by hollows go to…never to join the cycle of rebirth. You should all know that souls are eternal. The souls themselves are not a problem, what we should be worrying about are the Leviathans."

Everyone looked at him. How was this possible?

"Kisuke, how do you know of all this?" Ukitake enquired.

"Ha," he gave a dry laugh, "You don't really believe that I was banished and became a wanted man just because of…what was it? Oh yeah _inhumane experiments, _do you?"

He maintained silence after that. Clearly that was the end of it.

"How does Ichigo fit into all this?" Rukia asked.

"Good question Rukia. Well, to open the gateway one needs to have a footing in all the realms."

They looked at him with puzzled looks.

"I can see you are all confused." Kisuke smiled, "It is simple…one has to belong to all the realms or at least be a part of them to be the key to the gateway."

"But that's impossible, right?" Renji asked. "You are either one thing or the other…you can't be from two worlds."

"Not exactly. As you all know, before he lost his soul reaper powers, Ichigo was a human who had both soul reaper and hollow powers. In that sense he belonged to all three realms. He was a human, a soul reaper and a hollow." He smiled and moved the brim of his hat when he saw that they were following. There was one more power that Ichigo possessed courtesy of his mother but for now Kisuke didn't see a reason to point it out.

"An analysis of the spiritual energy that hit Karakura town three days ago yielded some rather alarming results. It had particles in it that were only meant to be found in a certain realm-the beast realm. At first I didn't know what it meant. It took me a while to put the pieces together." Kisuke explained.

The captains all kept their silence. No need to comment yet. Getting the information now was what was most important.

"I thought Ichigo lost both his soul reaper and hollow powers." Uryu voiced out the one thing everyone in the room was wondering.

"A tiny part…kind of microscopic remained in his body. It latched on to his soul. That kind of power cannot fully disappear. It just needed something like this…to reawaken them."

"When-when did you figure out it was Ichigo. How did you know he was the key? What if you are wrong?" Orihime asked. She needed to believe that there was a mistake somewhere.

"When Renji brought him to me that day, I did an analysis of Ichigo's spiritual energy to help me figure out what was wrong with him. Ichigo was not only exhibiting soul reaper, hollow, and Kushanada powers but also beast realm powers…even though they were minute. It overwhelmed him so much until all he felt was pain. At first, I didn't know what it meant, but it came to me. Now it is clear that Ichigo is the key to opening the gateway. At the time, I did not want to alarm him so I kept it to myself until I was certain."

"Man, Ichigo keeps getting better and better," Kenpachi grinned as he imagined battling Ichigo and his new powers.

Soi Fon glared at Kenpachi, "Once again, you only have one thing on your mind, Kenpachi. How predictable," she turned her glare to Kisuke, "And you, this is the time you decide to show up…do you have any idea what you have caused? You came too late and now your information is useless.' Soi Fon said.

"I was…held up." Kisuke said.

A vein popped up in Soi Fon's forehead, "Why do you always have to be so cryptic? If you had gotten here sooner we would have dealt with this matter then."

"Well, this is getting interesting." Kyoraku Shunsui said.

Kisuke just smiled.

"It isn't too late yet. Ichigo still doesn't have a footing in the final realm-The realm that this man in the shadows wants to open."

"How sure are we that Ichigo doesn't have this final piece of some ancient realm?" Uryu asked. The possibility that Kisuke was wrong was there.

"Well I am not sure really. But since the gates are still closed it must mean only one thing, Ichigo is still lacking the final piece of the puzzle…as you put it. And until that happens, we can stop this hooded man's plans and save Ichigo in the process."

"Sa-save Ichigo? You mean from execution?" Orihime smiled. Hope being seen in her big eyes.

"Yes, that too. But there is a chance that being the key might kill Ichigo.."

Orihime gasped and everyone in the room understood just how serious finding Ichigo before the shrouded man did was. The worlds depended on it.

"So Captain Hitsugaya." Soi Fon looked at the white haired young man, "Still not regretting your choice?"

The young captain had no words, but he also had no regrets.

"That's enough Soi Fon." Yoruichi intervened.

"Lady Yoruichi…" she backed down for a second then stood her ground. "The head captain must be told of this."

"But Captain, if you do that captain Hitsugaya will be charged with aiding a fugitive." Rukia pleaded with her.

"So be it. The head captain was clear about this. No exceptions."

"You will hand in your fellow captain? Regardless of whether it is right or wrong?" Yoruichi asked, knowing full well just how the captain of squad 2 was. She wasn't shocked.

Soi Fon looked at her former master, turned away and started walking towards the door.

"I have no interest in whether it is right or wrong. All I care about is executing orders as a captain of the 13 court guard squads." She said it and walked out of the room without even a look back.

"That went well." Kisuke said and all eyes landed on him.

~xoxo~

_In the bowels of the Department of Research and Development, Seireitei._

In a dim-lit, large room lay an orange haired boy. His body was connected to tubes and needles that were attached to machines. Lights and buttons were flicking red and yellow. All the information being gathered was transferred to the one large screen on the far north wall.

There were four large, fluid-filled stasis chambers on the south side of the roof. Three were empty while the fourth housed a humanoid looking specimen. It too was connected to a machine that was placed on the incubators right. The machine was attached to a small monitor.

This truly was a mad scientist's lair.

When Ichigo finally opened his eyes, he was still weary from the effects of the mind and body boggling drugs. He blinked many times to bring feeling back into his eye lids. His throat felt dry.

His hands were bound and his chest was bare. He looked at the poorly lit room and fear coursed through his veins.

"Oh good, you are awake." Kurotsuchi's voice echoed in the large room.

"Wait!" Ichigo said when he saw the scientist produce a rather large needle. He pricked Ichigo's neck and started to draw some blood in a vial.

"Ow! Watch it!" Ichigo winced. Without the effects of the numbing drug, he felt it all.

"Nemu!' Kurotsuchi called out to the quiet girl studying the main screen in the room. "Here carry this." He said, handing her the vial with Ichigo's blood.

"Why the hell are you doing this? I thought we were on the same side!"

"I am on the side of science." Kurotsuchi responded, amused with himself, "Now hush!"

"Let me go!" Ichigo demanded.

"I must inform you that that will not happen Specimen Zero. My experiment is about to commence. The rights of refusal or acceptance are out of your hands."

"You're crazy! Stop this madness now!" Ichigo was losing his patience.

"You call it madness…I call it genius."

Kurotsuchi grinned and then started walking out of the room with Nemu right behind him.

"Get back here and untie these!" Ichigo fought against his bindings but they were secured firmly.

"Hey!" Ichigo called out.

Mayuri Kurotsuchi kept on walking. An unnerving smile on his painted face. He opened the door and passed through.

"Get me out of here! Let me go!" Ichigo was still being ignored.

"MAYURI!"

The light went out in the room and the door was closed behind the insane scientist, Ichigo's voice could still be heard as he screamed out his frustration and pleas.

As Mayuri heard this sound and thought of what was to follow, he laughed.

~xoxo~

Review?

**A/N: Hey guys please don't kill me for that Ichigo x Orihime part. **

**And like always tell me what you think. I would really appreciate your review of my story so far. And yes even if it was bad or good, I wanna know what you thought of this chapter. Be on the lookout for chapter 11 the next 7 days. Review?**

**~Ja ne.**

20


	11. Of Chains and Seals

_**Author's Note: Hey Guys, I hope you enjoy Chapter 11. It's a bit intense. Special thanks to darkboy18 for his contribution :)**_

_**Read and leave me an honest review.**_

_**~xoxo~**_

_Captain Hitsugaya's Office, Seireitei._

"That Soi Fon is some piece of work." Kenpachi said to break the awkward silence that the staunchly loyal Captain of squad 2 had left the room in.

"Um, isn't someone going to stop her?" Orihime asked as she looked around the room.

Everybody just stood in place and Kenpachi shrugged… just shrugged.

"What's the point?" Hitsugaya said, "If what Urahara has told us is true then I believe we have bigger things to worry about."

Orihime just had to join the others in their thoughts and beliefs. If they were not worried then she would also try not to.

What she did worry about however, was Ichigo. The last time she had seen him, he seemed not himself.

"We have to start thinking about how to help Ichigo." Uryu said. "We are still not sure how the man in the shadow plans on giving him the spirit particles."

"Yes," Kisuke said, "but first I need a change of clothes." He smiled as everyone gave him a confused look.

Orihime only had her mind on Ichigo and nothing else.

The sooner they could figure out where he had wandered off to, the better.

"Now, since we are all up to date, can you all get out of my office?" Hitsugaya said as everyone felt a chill in the air.

Misaki couldn't have gotten up and left quicker if her Hakama was on fire.

_~xoxo~_

_Somewhere in the department of research and development._

When Kurotsuchi had left Ichigo tied up in his lab, the captured former substitute soul reaper had screamed and shouted until the drugs had taken effect and he passed out again.

When he woke up at first light, it had taken Ichigo 2 hours of struggling, screaming and cursing before his spiritual pressure had seeped out of his body with so much force that the restraints that bound him had finally broken off. He was so tired of being treated like an animal.

Kurotsuchi was going to get it, if Ichigo had anything to do about it.

Ichigo heard footsteps approaching from outside the lab he was in and he tiptoed away from the bed and hid behind the stasis container housing the humanoid specimen.

The door opened and Kurotsuchi entered. The grin he had been wearing on his face dropped and a frown formed.

"My…my, however did he escape?" Kurotsuchi looked at the now empty bed. "That stupid girl!"

The mad scientist thought of how he was going to make Nemu pay for letting his latest test subject escape. Of course

"No matter, he couldn't have gotten far. I just have to activate the drug I injected him with and I will know his location." Kurotsuchi said.

Unknown to Ichigo, the bangle Misaki had given him was able to suppress his powers and hide his presence but Kurotsuchi had figured that out and relieved him of it. When the scientist had taken it off of Ichigo and then proceeded to injecting him with a drug, he had actually injected him with a drug that could not only do the same job as the bangle, but could also act as a tracker if the specimen had somehow managed to escape.

It was genius. He was, after all, Mayuri Kurotsuchi.

"Surprise motherfu-" Ichigo said behind the unsuspecting scientist but before he could finish his words, the crazy Captain of squad 12 spun around, grabbed a drug filled syringe from his left sleeve and aimed it at Ichigo's arm.

Ichigo retracted his punch and threw the left one instead.

"Not this time!" The determined lad smacked the scientist's hand away and the syringe was sent flying. He raised his long, strong legs and threw a kick that hit the scientist straight in his painted face.

Kurotsuchi was sent flying back, his body crashing into the giant monitor on the wall. The glass shattered and sparks flew all around the room. The Captain fell to the ground and broken glass rained after him.

He raised his body from the floor; his headdress had fallen off in his collision with the giant screen. Kurotsuchi touched his head when it felt lighter.

"This just won't do." Kurotsuchi said. He had a confused stare colouring his face as he faced Ichigo.

"I do hate it when my test subjects fight back." The Captain commented.

"Stop talking to me like I am some kind of guinea pig!" Ichigo ran towards the annoyed Captain. His fists were ready to pound the scientist's face in.

"This is most irritating. I hate it even more when they cannot keep quiet." Kurotsuchi said, "The screaming I can get used to. The aimless chatter, however, I cannot stand." He reached into his Hakama and threw a small vial at Ichigo's feet.

When the vial hit the ground and shattered, a purple vapour emanated and engulfed Ichigo. As soon as Ichigo breathed in and the vapour entered his lungs, he screamed out in pain. The vapour made him feel like someone had not only sprayed him with gasoline and then lit a match but had also poured a gallon of acid down his windpipe.

"You brought this on yourself Specimen Zero. All I wanted was to study you."

"I-wi-will-" Ichigo could barely speak because all he felt was excruciating pain.

The cloud of purple dissipated and Kurotsuchi started walking towards Ichigo.

"Now, do be quiet!" Kurotsuchi said as he bent down to pick up the syringe that Ichigo had thrown away, "I will make this quick."

Kurotsuchi stood above a writhing Ichigo and prepared to inject him with the paralyzing drug.

Ichigo screamed out as he was shrouded by a mixture of red and black fog. A giant cleaver appeared in his right hand and Ichigo swung viciously at Kurotsuchi's syringe-holding arm. The limb was cut clean off and it dropped to the ground in a bloody pool- the syringe still in the severed hand.

"Now…now, Specimen Zero, that wasn't so nice." Kurotsuchi said as he looked at where his arm used to be and then down at the orange haired test subject.

"My name…is…Ichigo!" Ichigo shouted and swung his blade lower.

Both of Kurotsuchi's legs were amputated and his body fell to the ground. He dragged his body backwards until he reached the wall and his back rested against it.

Ichigo got up-his naked chest rising and falling as he took in the air that his lungs desperately required. One giant cleaver was held in his right hand, a chain wound the whole expanse of his manly arm. His left hand was clenched in a fist so tight that Ichigo almost drew blood.

Ichigo heard approaching footsteps but could not concern himself with that at the moment.

"You are more trouble than you are worth, it seems." Kurotsuchi looked up at the fuming Ichigo. Using his left hand he reached in his sleeves and removed two small vials with needles at their ends. Wasting no time at all, he plunged the two simultaneously into his chest.

The drugs entered his system and the lost limbs grew back again. Kurotsuchi grinned maniacally at Ichigo and then he exploded, blowing up the wall that he had been resting against.

The aftershock blew Ichigo back. When Ichigo recovered and got back up, his weapon and the chains had disappeared. He now stood in the room wearing nothing but ripped and bloody faded jeans that hung low on his waist. He looked at the blown up wall and could not see the scientist. All that was left of Kurotsuchi was a green puddle of goo below the fallen rubble.

Ichigo smiled when the puddle started moving from left to right. The puddle moved around the room and then made its way past the feet that stood by the door.

"How is it that every time we meet, it has to be after a giant explosion." The blue haired soul reaper said from the doorway she stood in.

~xoxo~

_Kuchiki Estate, Soul Society._

Orihime was feeling uneasy as she sat in Rukia's room. She had hardly slept all through the night.

How come none of them could pick up on his spiritual presence? Had the condition escalated so much since the last time she saw him that it had driven him insane? If she had stayed with him instead of just leaving him down there alone, would he be with them now?

Was it her fault?

The thought brought a shiver down her body. She hoped he was okay.

"Orihime?" Rukia's voice finally broke through.

"Oh…sorry Rukia, what were you saying?" she asked in a low voice.

"Stop worrying yourself too much. I am sure he is fine." Rukia assured her friend but deep down she was also just as worried.

"But Rukia, we can't even sense him. Where could he be?" her eyes watered. She had promised herself to be stronger but her resolve was slowly crumbling around her.

Should she tell Rukia about it? Orihime wasn't sure what to think herself. She was still not sure what exactly had happened.

"Hey, aren't you feeling a bit hot?" Rukia asked the busty girl in the coat and scarf, "We are indoors, you can take those off."

Orihime tightened the scarf around her neck and then fidgeted with her fingers. An alarmed look could easily be seen on her beautiful face.

"Um, no…I'm okay." She gave Rukia one of her signature smiles but in her eyes, Rukia could see that the smile was far from genuine.

"That idiot!" Rukia said, "I swear when we find him, I will give him a piece of my mind for worrying us…you, like this."

Orihime smiled. So she wasn't the only one who was worried.

She got off from the bed and ran into Rukia's arms and hugged her. They both needed the comfort.

Rukia froze for a second and then awkwardly raised her arms and hugged back.

"That damn Ichigo!" the short soul reaper said and Orihime couldn't stop the tears that fell down her face.

_~xoxo~_

_Kurotsuchi's lab, Department of Research and Development._

"What are you doing here?" A shirtless Ichigo looked at the blue haired Shinigami.

"I came to ask the scientist you just beat up if he had a way of tracking you. What are you doing here?" Misaki spoke, "Please don't tell me you disappeared from your hideout just so you could come and chop off Captain Scientist's limbs."

"Of course not dammit, that sick bastard pumped me full of paralyzing drugs and brought me down here. He said I was to be his test subject." Ichigo explained.

"Oh. Did he mention why?"

"No, he didn't explain a thing. I still don't know why everyone is so interested in me. First it was the execution and now this." Ichigo ran his hands through his hair. "It's so frustrating."

"Stop acting like a giant vagina, strawberry." She attempted to punch him on his shoulder but Ichigo stopped her fist before it touched him.

"And stop trying to hit me; I get enough of that from Rukia." Ichigo said as he let go of her clenched fist. "Let's get out of here, I'm sure everyone heard that blast and they will be coming here soon."

They headed for the door.

Ichigo had to find a new hiding place, he was certain that the order to have him killed was still standing and the last thing he needed was to be captured. Whatever it is they thought he was guilty of, Ichigo didn't care. He just had to find the hooded man and make some progress in this situation.

He wanted to ask about Orihime, for some reason he felt compelled to know if she was okay. Her powers were probably keeping her safe but still he needed to hear how she was doing.

"Hey, have you see-" Ichigo started.

"Jugs?" a teasing grin formed on Misaki's face, "Of course I have seen her. She is okay."

"That's good." Ichigo tried to act cool about it. He felt relieved.

"Why don't you just tell her already?" Misaki asked.

"Tell her what?" the orange haired boy looked confused. Was there something he was missing? What was the tease getting at?

"You are hopeless you know that right? Poor Jugs." She shook her head in disbelief.

There it was again. He was just worried about her. Yes, that was all it was, wasn't it? Yes, that was all it was, he told himself. No point overthinking it.

"I thought we said no weird nicknames." Ichigo remembered their conversation in Urahara's store.

"You asked me to stop calling her _boobs, _and I did. What, I have to call her Orihime now? No, thank you…names are too personal. Forces people to be attached and attachments are weakness." She said in a serious voice. Something Ichigo had rarely seen from her except when she was fighting.

"You are a difficult one to read." Ichigo commented. "I would like to get to know you…the real you."

"Even though you look good shirtless…" Misaki started as she looked at his bare chest, "…the day you get to know the real me is the day you get to die." She gave him a crazy smile.

Ichigo just shook his head, something did not sit right with him but maybe he was just over analyzing things.

A cough was heard from somewhere in the room.

"Well…well, we really need to stop meeting like this." Ichigo heard a voice behind him and a cold feeling washed over him.

He spun around and looked past the hole in the wall where Mayuri had blown up just some moments ago. From the darkness walked out the person Ichigo was meaning to impale his sword into. The skeletal scythe his enemy held looked ready to do some damage.

"Then I am gonna have to make sure that this is the last time we meet!" Ichigo said as he took a battle stance.

Without any hesitation, Ichigo was engulfed by red and black and in seconds his attire changed to the black sleeveless Hakama that he was getting used to. The chains appeared around his arms and the giant cleavers made their way into his welcoming hands where they belonged. This time however, Ichigo felt no pain. His body did not burn. There was no torturous hellish feeling.

He felt…powerful.

"I see you managed to get your powers in check…impressive." Ichigo's enemy said. He sounded genuine.

"I don't need that from you…I just want to defeat you!"

The hooded man bent one knee as he held the scythe in both his hands. He put the blade at an angle such that one swing could chop an enemy's head clean off.

"If it's a fight you want Ichigo, then it's a fight you will get."

"Bring it!" Ichigo threatened.

Ichigo dashed towards the man with no warning, jumped in the air and swung his right hand war cleaver. The man with the scythe crouched down a bit and used the shaft of his scythe to defend. He used his leg muscles to push his body from the ground and threw Ichigo off of him.

Ichigo's body hit the ceiling. Concrete and plaster started raining down as Ichigo fell to the ground.

~xoxo~

_Squad 6 barracks, Seireitei._

"Why aren't we out there looking for Ichigo?" Uryu asked the two people walking beside him in the barracks of squad 6.

All the captains and their lieutenants had returned to their barracks and offices after the meeting last night. Yoruichi had left for Karakura town to scope out if the hollow problem was still under control.

"I believe Ichigo will show up in due time Uryu. As you are well aware, none of us can pick up his presence at the moment." The blonde haired former squad 12 captain said.

Kisuke was wearing a black Hakama. His hair was let loose as he had packed his trusty stripped hat away. In its place he wore a black bandana secured around his forehead much like the red haired soul reaper by his side.

Renji looked at the blonde haired shop owner and felt the need to say something.

"It's so weird seeing you without your clogs." The red head said.

"Well, I am trying to be incognito…so for now I will just be dressed like the good old days." Kisuke smiled. But of course in the good old days he would also be donning a captain's haori.

"I have been meaning to ask," Uryu started, "you mentioned that Ichigo is missing a piece before he becomes the key, how can this be administered to him? Can something like an injection be used?"

"Good question." Kisuke answered as they walked, "Ichigo just needs to be exposed to the spirit particles from that realm and his transformation will be complete. So yes, an injection can be used."

Uryu got lost in his thoughts as he tried to piece the puzzle together. Kisuke had assured them that Ichigo was not the key yet, but Uryu wasn't so sure. Something didn't sit well with him.

If an injection can work then so can a…

A voice sounded in the whole Seireitei and interrupted Uryu's Voice.

"_Attention…Attention, all able bodied members of the Court Guard Squads report to Lab 8 at the Department of Research and Development. The Fugitive has been spotted. I repeat…Report to Lab 8 at the Department of Research and Development. The fugitive has been spotted."_

The three men looked at each other.

"Goddammit Ichigo!" Renji swore. "Now you've done it!"

When the members of Squad 6 started running out of the barracks and towards said lab, Uryu, Renji and Kisuke just had to follow suit.

"Yare, yare." Kisuke said as he made his way to save the Orange haired boy.

~xoxo~

_A trashed lab, Seireitei._

Misaki looked at the scene before her from her place in a corner.

Ichigo was really taking a beating. He was lying on the floor, surrounded by plaster and dirt. He had hit his head on the ceiling and now blood was dripping down his left face.

"Damn it!" Ichigo swore.

The hooded man rushed towards the bleeding Ichigo and aimed his blade straight for the orange haired boy's face. Ichigo rolled away from harm and the scythe's blade dug into the floor. A dent formed in the concrete and Ichigo thanked his lucky stars.

Ichigo willed his body to get up and once he was standing, he faced his opponent head on.

"That hurt, you bastard!" Ichigo said before he charged forward, cleavers at the ready.

"I don't want to kill you Ichigo; I need you alive, so, stop fighting and just come with me!"

"Shut…up!" Ichigo first swung his right hand blade, the cleaver hit the hooded man's blade then he swung the cleaver in his left but it was also blocked.

Ichigo jumped back a bit then charged forward again. His cleavers kept hitting the hooded man's blade and each time, sparks flew.

The sound of metal hitting metal echoed in the dimly lit, trashed lab. A bulb was flicking on and off in the corner and electrical sparks could still be seen from the broken screen in the far north wall.

Their weapons connected again and the two fought for power.

Ichigo's face looked bloody and his brown eyes tried to look in the darkness of the hood but he saw nothing. His opponent started exerting more force and almost over powered Ichigo.

"Back off!" Ichigo voiced, pushing the man with the scythe away from him and then raising his long leg for a swift kick to the ribs.

As soon as Ichigo's foot made contact, the attacked man lost his footing momentarily and Ichigo charged forward. The hooded man saw him coming. Just as the blade of the cleaver was about to make contact with the villain's shoulder, he disappeared. Ichigo's weapon hit the ground hard, it dug deep and the floor gave way. Concrete flew everywhere and his blade was stuck for a second.

"Damn it!" Ichigo said as he looked around the room. He saw the hooded man reappear in a corner behind Misaki. The man gripped Misaki's arm roughly and his blade was aimed right at the blue haired soul reapers neck.

Ichigo pulled his blade out of the ground and faced the duo in the corner.

"Let her go!" Ichigo warned.

"That all depends on you Ichigo. Come with me and she lives. Continue to fight and this lovely girl joins the headless horseman in Sleepy Hollow."

"Um…Carrot-top, I really like the fact that my head is attached to my neck so please don't be a dick and just do what Hood says." Misaki looked seriously at Ichigo.

"Smart girl. Hood huh? I like that," Misaki's captor said, "Well Ichigo, what do you say?"

Ichigo was conflicted. Misaki's life was in the balance but he also needed to defeat this crazy man. In that moment, however, all he saw was that blade against Misaki's throat and his decision was obvious. He wiped the blood from his forehead and dropped his arms. The cleavers disappeared from his hands and he stood like a man defeated.

"Fine, now let her go!"

"Good, don't you feel better?" The man teased. "All that pent up anger is not good for a young lad." He laughed.

"Screw you!" Ichigo retorted.

This wasn't over.

"Damn Misaki, of all the times to be docile you choose this moment?" Ichigo looked the captured soul reaper in the eye and hoped she understood the underlying message.

If she could only hit the man in his stomach with her elbow, bash his nose in with the back of her head and then dodge the blade of his scythe Ichigo would have all he needed to deliver the final blow.

Misaki looked back at him and her smirk told him that she understood.

"Try having a blade to your throat Orange and then let's have this conversation again." She said.

Ichigo switched his attention to the cloaked man.

"Let her go. I won't fight anymore!" Ichigo said.

As soon as the man loosened his grip on Misaki's arm and started moving the scythe's blade away from her neck, Misaki elbowed him. The second his staggered for a bit she fought her way out of his grip and ducked down to avoid his blade.

Ichigo was already in motion. In an instant, his cleavers reappeared and were gripped tightly in his expert hands. He dove for the man.

"Not so fast." The hooded man said. He pointed a finger at Ichigo. "Bakudou number 61: Rikujou Kourou."

Ichigo was thrown back as the 6 bar seal bound him. The sealed fighter tried to fight against it but to no avail.

"Damn it!" This was seriously not going well for Ichigo.

He looked at Misaki who had stepped away from the hooded man and he felt relieved. At least she was safe…for now.

He was not going to let this seal keep him from winning this fight. A burst of black and red erupted from Ichigo's body and he the seal was broken.

"You are stubborn." The hooded man said in exasperation, "Why do you keep fighting?"

Ichigo thought of his family and his friends. He thought of Orihime and a smile formed on his face. Her sometimes airhead personality pleased him.

"Because I have something worth fighting for and it's something a crazy bastard like you can never understand!"

"Enough of this! I will snuff out your flame. I will destroy your spirit!"

The hooded man quickly disappeared; Ichigo anticipated this move and he also flash stepped towards Misaki.

"Misaki! Move!" Ichigo warned.

When the man's scythe started materializing in front of Misaki's neck, Ichigo put his own blade between the two. Misaki side stepped away and took a stand behind Ichigo. When the man's whole body appeared, Ichigo raised his other cleaver and swiped at the man's shoulder. This grazed the man but not enough to dismember him. Blood sprayed and splashed on Ichigo's face. The wounded villain was not fazed.

"You will pay for that!"

Hood kneed Ichigo in the stomach. Ichigo doubled over and was then hit on the back with the butt of the man's scythe. Ichigo coughed out blood. The man then spun his scythe once above Ichigo and then all Ichigo saw was light and a feeling of nausea overwhelmed him.

~xoxo~

_Head captains office, Seireitei. (Right before the alarm alerting every one of Ichigo's whereabouts had gone off.)_

"Outrageous! This kind of behavior will not be tolerated!" The Head Captain pounded his staff on the floor.

Hearing Soi Fon report that Captain Hitsugaya had known all this time where Ichigo had been hiding came as a shock. He had suspected that the human was getting help, but he did not expect it to have been from a capable and strong captain such as Toshiro Hitsugaya.

"All those who disregard the rules will not go unpunished. The law is clear. Bring me Captain Hitsugaya!"

"Yes, Head Captain." The ever serious Soi Fon responded.

She understood, probably more than anyone, that orders once issued, are to be followed. No matter your personal views.

She did not care that the head captain had known of the true reason for the execution order and hadn't explained it to any of the captains. All she cared about was following orders. All orders were to be carried out without question or personal thought. There had to be genuine reasons for harsh orders. This situation was a perfect example.

She bowed her head and prepared to leave when the alarm sounded.

"_Attention…Attention, all able bodied members of the Court Guard Squads report to Lab 8 at the Department of Research and Development. The Fugitive has been spotted. I repeat…Report to Lab 8 at the Department of Research and Development. The fugitive has been spotted."_

Soi Fon froze as she listened to the message.

"What are you waiting for, Captain Soi Fon?" The Head Captain's voice echoed in the large room. "The Human must be captured. Do not fail me."

The corner of her lips lifted.

She had him now.

This time she would not fail.

Soi Fon flash stepped out of the large room and prepared to capture the fugitive.

~xoxo~

_Somewhere above Karakura town_

Ichigo was falling from the sky and as he failed to gain control of his body he fell, back first, to the ground. A large crater formed where his body hit. The giant cleavers were by his side, connected to his body by the chains that coiled around his toned arms.

He felt like his body had been turned inside out.

He wanted to retch.

He felt knackered.

But he needed to get up. He needed to push on.

Before he could get up, he felt boots dig into his stomach as Hood stomped on him. Ichigo spat out more blood and as he winced, he could have sworn he had heard a rib crack.

The searing pain overwhelmed him.

"Get-off-ME!" Ichigo demanded.

He reached for his weapons and swung savagely at the man on top of him. Hoodman somersaulted off of Ichigo and jumped on to a nearby wall.

"Just stop fighting! Why can't you understand I am trying to help all of us?" He spoke from his high vantage point.

"Idiot! I never…give up! I won't…stop until…I win this!" Ichigo coughed. "I will stop you!"

Ichigo then got up and saw Misaki passed out on the ground a distance from where he stood.

"Misaki!" he called out and almost fell to the ground. His feet still felt wobbly. He looked around. He saw the familiar buildings and the even familiar walls of the alley she was in. he saw it all and recognized that he was in Karakura town.

But how?

"Confused?" The man on the wall laughed, "Don't be; my scythe can do more than just beheadings."

Was his weapon capable of moving bodies and souls between worlds in just seconds? Was that how he disappeared and reappeared during fights?

Ichigo pondered.

This opponent was more formidable than Ichigo had initially thought. But to what end?

"Why are you doing this?" Ichigo shouted out in frustration.

Unlike the rest of his friends, Ichigo still had no idea that he was the key to opening an ancient gateway to the land of the leviathans. He did not know that his power was the only thing that could bring about the end of the worlds.

"Come with me and I will tell you." The man reached out his right hand while his left gripped the scythe.

"You are seriously starting to piss me off!" Ichigo bit out.

His body had gotten over his little inter-realm travel.

Ichigo pushed off from the ground and dove for the man atop the wall. Hood did not even jump away. He just moved his scythe to his right hand while his left gripped the lower part and thrust the blade in Ichigo's stomach.

Ichigo spat and spurted out warm crimson liquid. Hood then retracted the blade as he kicked Ichigo in the chest. Ichigo dropped to the ground, flinching in pain.

He was not going to take this lying down. He would fight through the pain. He slowly willed his body off of the dirty ground and stood up-cleavers in both hands, his clothes clinging to his stomach.

"Ichigo, don't make me laugh." The man pointed his razor sharp- now bloody- scythe at the young man below, "You need a thousand more years before you can take me on. Against me…you will ALWAYS lose!"

"Shut up! This ends now!" more blood seeped out of the wound inflicted by the sharp scythe.

Not letting what the shrouded man was saying get to him; the cut up teen leapt in the air and prepared to swing his cleavers once more.

Scythe-man stood his ground and raised his weapon just as one of Ichigo's blades was about to cut his head off. Both of Ichigo's cleavers now made contact with the man's scythe. Ichigo pushed with all his strength and the man with the scythe still held on. Neither one was letting the other overpower him.

While still hovering in the air, Ichigo maneuvered out of this useless position and also stood on the wall. He roundhouse-kicked the man on the wall, who then lost his balance and dropped to the ground.

Hood fell gracefully and as his legs hit the ground, Ichigo followed him down. The cleavers were ready to do damage but the hooded man still defended with his scythe.

This was not working.

Ichigo drew his head back and propelled it forward with so much force that when he made contact with the head of his opponent, the hooded man staggered back. This was the only advantage Ichigo needed as he lifted his leg to kick the man straight in the gut.

The hooded man was pushed back and flew straight into the far wall. The wall collapsed and rubble fell on top of him.

A panting Ichigo tried to stand up straight but the pain from his wound on his stomach was making it hard. His blood soaked clothes clung to his body. He speared one of his giant blades in the ground and used it for support. He was barely standing up.

Ichigo closed his left eye as the blood dripping down made it hard for him to see. He waited for some movement from the fallen ruins of the wall but all he saw was dust and stone.

Was it over?

The sharp blade of a bloody scythe materialized right in front of Ichigo as he panted and gasped for more air. The ginger's reflexes were getting sharper and before the blade could cut off his head, Ichigo ducked and only got nicked on his cheek. Blood dripped from Ichigo's cheek.

"Damn you!" Ichigo said. He felt frustration with each second that passed.

The hooded man's whole body finally appeared out of nowhere and Ichigo didn't give him a chance to attack. The former substitute soul reaper swung the blade in his right hand and aimed it straight for the hooded man's neck. The man with the scythe dodged this attack by turning his head back and arching his back.

He planted the bottom of the scythe firmly into the ground and used it for balance. With his back arched and Ichigo's blades carefully evaded, the man raised his left leg and kicked Ichigo's jaw. Hood spun and somersaulted, grabbing the scythe with him and landing in a low crouch a distance away

The kick he dealt Ichigo sent the orange haired fighter flying and as he spun in the air, the man who dealt the kick straightened up before Ichigo could land.

While Ichigo was still in the air spinning and failing to find control, scythe-man dove off from the ground and with super speed was able to find his way above Ichigo in the air. He swung his right leg with the force of a man determined and hit Ichigo in the stomach.

Ichigo flinched as the pain hit him. The kick to his gut sent him falling to the ground like a rock and a crater formed on the ground as his beaten up body landed. He coughed up some blood and closed his eyes shut. The dust and dirt were going into his eyes and the stones in the ground were digging into his already bruised back.

"Damn…it!" he said through bloody, clenched teeth.

He felt overpowered, but he was not going to give up. There was too much on the line.

"Are you going to come with me now?" Ichigo's opponent asked. He dropped to the ground swiftly and landed with one knee bent.

"Never!" Ichigo struggled to get up, willing his body to respond. "This…isn't over!"

"I will commend you on your tenacity, you have willpower, that I can see, but it isn't enough in this wretched world." The hooded man said as he walked over to Ichigo's bloody frame. "You need more weapons in your arsenal to withstand and fight the cruelty of this world…this existence."

Ichigo winced as the man towering him proceeded to stepping on his wounded body.

"Get off me, you cowardly bastard!" he cursed. "I will kill you!" he flinched again when the man exerted more pressure.

"More empty threats…" the man moved his foot off of Ichigo, "…pathetic. Just stop fighting and let me show you my plan. This is what the worlds need…I am doing all of us a favour."

"A favour? Do you know how many people have died? The only person enjoying this is you, you psychotic freak!"

"You fight me and yet all I am doing is trying to better this hell we call our existence."

Ichigo had gone through too much to be called pathetic now. He needed to be stronger. As he wasn't in his spiritual body, he knew anymore damage would kill him.

He wasn't going to let that happen.

He felt the familiar warmth wash over his body and a powerful surge of black and red exuded from deep within him. The energy hit the man looking down on him and threw him back spinning. It kept on going and leveled the walls within a hundred meter radius.

Ichigo felt his body start to slowly patch itself up. It wasn't major but it was enough for him to stand now. He raised his body from the ground and looked around him. He had caused more damage than he had intended.

He looked to where the hooded man had fallen and when the dust settled, Ichigo saw the man in black slowly start to get up.

He was covered by his hood no longer.

His face could easily be seen.

Ichigo saw his face and he felt his knees weaken. Where his eyes playing tricks on him?

"Y-you-you are-" Ichigo couldn't say anything intelligent at that point. The shock had been too much.

The face staring back at Ichigo smirked and it unnerved the wounded human even more.

It was uncanny.

"This is most unfortunate." The man said, "I had intended to keep this little surprise secret for longer. No matter…my plan is still flawless."

"How-how is this-" Ichigo stepped back a bit, planted his blade in the dugout soil and supported himself with it.

"Ichigo!" Misaki's voice came from behind him. She was finally awake and she didn't call him by some ridiculous nickname. She stopped in her tracks when she saw the face of the man in front of them.

Ichigo was not going to let this little discovery deter him. He was so close.

The uncloaked man looked Misaki's way and smirked.

"Misaki stay back! I will finish this." Ichigo said to the Soul reaper now standing next to him.

"Sorry about this, strawberry." She said flatly.

Misaki wasted no time and quickly moved towards Ichigo. She pressed her fingers on his pressure points and knocked him out before he could even realize that she had been playing him like a flute all along.

He had no idea that she had inserted herself in his life from the beginning for this same reason. Offering him the one thing he did not need in the guise of pain killers. Priming him for the moment when he would eventually become the key.

She looked at the orange haired boy on the floor and then at Hood a distance from her. A smile formed on her face.

"Excellent performance Misaki," the scythe man said. He would have clapped if he wasn't gripping the skeletal scythe, "you had them all fooled."

~xoxo~

**Author's Note: **I know I am late with this chapter but I was struggling with the fight scene.

**Please tell me what you think of this chapter. Being a "Lurker" is cool and all but you know Author's love Reviews and Feedback, so yeah leave me your comments. **

**I think I am talking to myself now…**

**Next chapter we get to see the Gateway to the Land of the Leviathans open. #excited.**

**Review?**

20


	12. Of Keys and Portals

_**Author's Note: **_So I spent too much time editing this chapter and now it's late coming out. I hope the grammar issues and all won't be too noticeable. I need some coffee.

Thanks for reading. Tell me what you think.

Enjoy.

_**~xoxo!**_

_A mad man's secret lair._

Ichigo's head hung low, his chin touching his collar bone and his bare chest was rising and falling-the only indication that he was still alive. His eyes twitched. He groggily opened them and fought to focus. The stupid things felt too heavy and all he saw was a foggy environment. There was only one tiny window in the room and it was bolted shut. The room was dimly lit.

Damn it.

Where in the world was he? And why did it smell of mold and bat droppings? Ichigo hated it already. At least his other senses were working. That was good.

The last thing his cloudy mind recalled was facing off the hooded man. No, that wasn't right. He saw the man's face. But how was it possible? Could the soul society have failed in keeping that mad man locked up? They should have locked him up and thrown away the key. Ichigo lost his powers in his quest to defeat him, so why was he back again? Why now?

"Damn it!" he said, his voice throaty.

Just how much more would he have to experience before it all overwhelmed him enough to want to quit? Well in his world, the word _quit_ was nonexistent…just like failure.

He was going to pull through…he just had to. He thought of Misaki and he hoped she had gotten away. But since he was alone in this dark hell, he was positive that she had escaped.

Whatever situation he was in now, he would find his way around it. He was after all the guy who fought with Kenpachi once and had lived to tell the tale. He not only took down Grimmjow but also that bat, Ulquiorra. This situation was going to be a piece of cake, right? He had defeated the psycho before; he could undoubtedly do it again, right?

Ichigo's body hurt like a bastard but that was nothing. He shifted his aching body and raised his head. To his right was a closed door. He tried to move his arms and legs but failed. HHHhhhjbke was cuffed and chained to a metallic cross. Spread-eagled, to be exact. His arms and legs were bound and in front of him he saw two pillars erected parallel to each other. A third one was placed on top of the others, making it look like an archway. Metallic wires and cables spiraled around each pillar and ran on the floor. They joined together until they connected to the spear that hung on the wall next to Ichigo.

He didn't like the look of it all. It unnerved him.

The door on his right started to open. Its creaking sound filling his ears until it swung wide open and he saw two figures walking towards him. It didn't take a genius to figure out who it was. He knew who one of them was, but the other he couldn't guess.

"Ah, doorways." The man said, "I have no use for them of course but I thought it would be more dramatic coming through a large noisy door than just popping up out of nowhere. Don't you agree?" he had put on his hood again. What was the point?

"Damn you!" Ichigo cursed. "Why the hell are you still covering yourself up, you sick bastard? I know who you are!"

"Do you now?" the smug mad man said, "Force of habit, I guess."

The other figure got closer and was within Ichigo's sight. His eyes widened and he let out a disappointed breath.

"Misaki?" he looked at her. So she had failed to escape. "Let her go. You have me, just let her go!" he glared at the man in the hood.

"Oh my." Laughter filled the room and the man almost hunched over, holding his stomach. "You still think she is on your side? This is priceless." Walking over to Ichigo's side, he signaled for Misaki to step closer.

"Come on, Misaki." He laughed, "Why don't you tell our…key…here how exactly he got here. He seems to have forgotten how you knocked him out and handed him to me on a silver platter. But only after you stuffed him full of pills that made him the one thing I have been looking for most of my life…our salvation."

Ichigo looked at Misaki. A confused stare on his face. If he had eaten recently his stomach would have emptied that second. This was not happening.

"No…" he whispered. The psycho was lying. There was no way. But really what did he truly know about her other that the fact that she was a good fighter. He felt betrayed. He felt weakened.

"Was that really necessary, Hood?" her blue hair looked dull in this lighting but Ichigo couldn't miss the look on her face. She wasn't denying it. She didn't even look remotely remorseful.

"H-how could you?" he looked at her, his teeth clenched and he fought against the chains. Why would she do this to him, to the soul society? All those people in the human world whose lives had been ruined, she was involved in that? How could she live with herself?

"Don't you even dare give me that judgmental stare!" She said, her voice firm. "You have no idea how messed up this world is. You have no idea how bad it is living in the soul society. Hood gave me a chance to change this vile world and I took it."

Ichigo knew some parts of the soul society were less than desirable but was she justified to have conspired with the mad man to change it? Whatever he was trying to change.

"Bull!" Ichigo spat, his lips twitching in anger, "so life gets a little hard, that's how it is. So you suffered during your time in the soul society, that's how it is. You pulled through. You graduated from the academy. The past is the past. It doesn't give you the right to-"

"Stop. Right. There." She moved closer until she was just inches from his face, "You don't know anything about me. You have no idea how fucked up I feel. The past is the past, you say? Fuck that. I will not stand around idle and let other people experience the pain I have felt.!" She was screaming in his face. "The soul society is the afterlife and people still live in the slums…like dogs. How the fuck is this place the afterlife? Something must change."

"Damn it, Misaki!" Ichigo struggled against the chains, "He is just using you. It's what he does. Whatever you think you are doing, he doesn't care about you!"

He may have switched his weapon of choice from a Zanpakutou to some creepy skeletal scythe but once a mad man always a mad man.

"You know nothing." She said under her breath.

"I know enough. This man is not your friend, he is a psychotic evil bas-"

"I'm right here you know? I can hear you." Hood said. "And I must say…hurtful."

"Shut up!" Ichigo was fuming, "And get me the hell out of these chains!"

"But the good part is just about to begin." He rested his scythe next to the cross and grabbed the spear that hung on the wall, "We have a realm to open."

Realm? What the hell was he talking about? Why was he moving closer to Ichigo with that large spear?

"What are you doing?" Ichigo tried to break out of the chains and cuffs.

"Well, put simply…once you are ready, I'm going to impale this in your heart."

Ichigo's eyes widened.

~xoxo~

_Department of Research and Development_

Soi Fon has lost it once she had found out that Ichigo was no longer at the institute. She had taken her men and head settled for bringing Captain Hitsugaya in instead. She knew the Head captain would be disappointed but she had to at least succeed at one thing. That stupid human. Soi Fon hated Ichigo.

Kisuke, Renji, Orihime, Rukia and Uryu remained behind trying to figure out where Ichigo might have gone off too again. The clues around told them that a serious battle might have taken place. Their bets were on the hooded man and Ichigo facing off.

It was when they were preparing to leave that Nemu walked in with a jar filled with goo. One look at it and Uryu guessed just what the goo was.

"What happened to him?" he asked Nemu.

She looked at him and if he didn't know better he would have said that she blushed for a second. "I wasn't around when it happened but I think he fought with Speci-, the human." Her voice flat and dead as ever. It was almost robotic, like talking was a chore or some daunting task.

Orihime looked like she didn't know what they were even talking about.

"How long will he stay like that?" Uryu asked, his voice sounded impatient. He had just figured out that if Mayuri was one of the last people to see Ichigo then maybe he knew where he was now. But Goo-Mayuri was useless.

"Just a couple of days." She answered.

Great. Just great. How will they get any clues about Ichigo now?

"Lieutenant Kurotsuchi, do you have any idea why Ichigo was here?" Kisuke asked. "Do you know where he could have gone off to."

She faced down and hesitated. Uryu looked at her and knew she was hiding something. He walked closer to her and hoped she could trust them enough. Lives were at stake.

"Look, we are trying to save our friend. So, please, if you know something that can help, tell us." Uryu said, his voice soft and calm even though he was on the brink of shouting it out.

Nemu raised her head and handed him the jar housing her gooey dad. Uryu wrinkled his face and held it away from him like it was a dangerous poison. Nemu lifted her skirt an inch and took out a rectangular device from the holster on her right thigh.

"You can track him with this. Do not ask me how." She handed the device to Kisuke and grabbed her goo dad from the Quincy.

"Thank you." Uryu said. Orihime and Rukia offered her a smile to show their gratitude.

Nemu almost smiled but that would have probably been a sign of the apocalypse or something so she just nodded and looked away. With her dad-filled jar held closer to her chest, she started walking away.

"So where the hell is he?" Renji moved closer to Kisuke and tried to look at the device.

"Well according to this, we have a long way to go."

"So, what are we waiting for? Let's go get that idiot." Rukia said.

Uryu looked at her and knew deep down she was beaming. She care about Ichigo and Uryu knew that. Orihime on the other hand was quiet, almost like she didn't know what to feel. Uryu was worried about her. She had gotten weirder since Ichigo's disappearance.

"Anybody know where Misaki went?" Renji finally asked. Last time they saw her was during the meeting in Captain Hitsugaya's office.

They all shook their heads and something didn't sit well with Uryu. He couldn't pin point why but he just had a bad feeling about the blue-haired soul reaper.

"Off we go then." Kisuke said.

Uryu hoped they find Ichigo in time. The world did depend on it after all.

~xoxo~

_A mad man's lair_

"Why are you doing this?" Ichigo asked when he saw the spear that was to be stuck in his heart.

"Still with the questions, huh?" Hood stepped back a bit, "Who are you? Why are you doing this? Come on Ichigo, can't you just get on board and trust me?"

A scoff escaped the captive's lips. Ichigo couldn't trust that traitor…ever. He had betrayed the soul society and killed off the central 46. Who would trust such a mad man?

"Okay, Ichigo. Do you want to see you mother again?" Hooded Aizen asked.

What was that? Ichigo's eyes widened. His shock was momentarily replaced by anger and rage and his nostrils flared.

"You bastard, don't you ever talk about mother!" he fumed, fighting frantically at the cuffs.

"What would you do if I told you that what I'm doing will not only allow you to see your mother again but you will be together…forever? Wouldn't you want that? Wouldn't you like to see you mother again?" he caressed the blade of the spear as he spoke.

"Curse you. Shut up! Shut up!" Ichigo screamed. He wished he could cover his ears. He wished he could block out that voice, those tempting words.

"You will thank me once the gate way is open. You will get on your knees and kiss my feet once I let you see your mother once more." Hood spoke, "It's almost time."

First it was realms and now its gateways. What was he missing?

An alarm went off in the room and Hood gave Misaki a knowing look. He didn't even say anything as she started walking out of the room.

"Misaki," Hood Aizen called out, "Take the others too."

She smiled. She faced Ichigo and her face straightened, "I'm sorry okay. Maybe if we met under different circumstances we would have been friends. I think you are a cool guy. I just want some change in this pathetic society." She left immediately after saying that.

Ichigo felt like he understood her a bit. It hurt him that she had been lying to them all but hearing what the mad man was saying kind of had him wondering.

"So, what did you promise her?" he glared at his captor.

"Whatever do you mean?" the response came.

"Misaki, you sick bastard. What did you promise her? Did you also tell her some ridiculous lie about how she would see her family? Is that it?" Ichigo's blood was boiling. This man had to be stopped. Such cruel lies were not acceptable. "Answer me, damn it!"

"I assure you, what I tell you is nothing but the truth. You'll see." Hood looked at Ichigo and then at the cross where he was chained. "It's almost time."

"At what price?" he had to know. He knew the man was just lying to him but he still asked.

"Nothing huge…just your life." A sickening laugh erupted from the man and Ichigo knew then more than ever that he hated that evil bastard.

He had heard right the first time then. That spear would have to go in his heart but to hear him say it like that didn't sit well with Ichigo. There had to be a way out.

He moved his wrists and legs where they were bound. He wished for his power to manifest once more. To use that energy and break free, but nothing was happening.

"Oh don't bother." Hood said to him, almost lie he had read Ichigo's mind. "Your powers will not work while you are chained up like that. I pride myself in being a kido master and a lover of all things science. So I made those chains and cuffs to suppress your powers. Just like that bangle I asked Misaki to give to you. Your powers are dormant for now. They can't be accessed, except with…this." Showing Ichigo the spear. "Neat trick, right?"

Shit. Ichigo was really in trouble. So that was it? Was this really how it ends? A spear to the heart?

Damn it.

~xoxo~

_A clearing in some forest_

"There is nothing here." Renji's irritated voice sounded once they had made it to a clearing in the middle of some forest. All that running had really gotten to him. They were all panting. Why had the stupid device led them here? Had Nemu lied to them?

"I wouldn't be so sure." Kisuke said as he walked past the large trees and onto the clearing. He was experienced enough to know a barrier when he saw one. He placed his palms in front of him and they made contact with the invisible barrier. "See?" a smile formed on his face.

He got out his sword and swung it in the air, cutting out a makeshift doorway. Beyond that, at what had just been a clearing, there was an old castle-looking skyscraper made of stone.

They walked through and started walking towards the building.

"This just keeps getting weirder and weirder." Renji said.

"Tell me about it." Uryu responded.

Orihime was very quiet as she walked next to Rukia. And Rukia was just thinking of the punches she owed that idiot Ichigo once she was sure that he was safe. They were all worried about the orange head.

"I just hope we are not too late." Rukia said.

"We have time as long as Ichigo hasn't been turned into the key yet." Kisuke reassured her, but to be honest he was also just trying to comfort himself. The probability that Ichigo was already the key was too high to ignore.

As they drew nearer to the building, they saw the door fly open and out walked three unfamiliar faces. They were all dressed in rags. They looked like typical people one might find suffering in the Rukongai district. The weird thing was that they were all carrying Zanpakutou. The fourth person was a stranger to no one and they all recognized her.

"Misaki?" they all spoke.

Renji saw her give out a breath of annoyance. What the hell was she doing here?

"I guess you found me out, huh? Oh well, no need denying it now. I work for Hood. He is going to help me change this world for the better. I'm sorry for deceiving you…blah. Blah. Blah. Blah. Now you are all caught up."

They all just stood staring at her except for Uryu who stood like he wasn't even affected. Renji didn't know what to make of what he had just heard. That bitch.

"Misaki, w-what are you saying?" Orihime asked. She was genuinely confused.

"Come on Jugs; don't tell me you are more breasts than brains. Isn't it obvious? I guess if you want to be shallow and put a label on it…you can say I'm the bad guy. Though I wonder about that." She said, unsheathing her sword and taking a battle stance.

"Why would you do this?" Rukia said. Renji could hear the hurt and anger in her voice. He understood how she felt. He wanted to murder someone too.

Renji didn't need any more incentive than that. He drew his own weapon, "Roar. Zabimaru!" His Shikai was called and he looked ready to take on whoever the other guys were. They didn't look tough. He was going to take them all on.

"Getting serious already I see. Okay. I don't have to explain myself to you." Misaki said. "Suffocate. Engetsutou no Suna." Her katana split and became the deadly scimitars that everyone was familiar with.

"Orihime…" Rukia said, "You might want to stand back for this, "Dance. Sode no Shirayuki!" Her beautiful sword transformed into its even more beautiful Shikai form.

"I guess we finally get to fight, huh midget." Misaki smirked.

"Call me _midget_ again and I will end you!" a cold air passed in the air. Her short hair blew with the breeze and her eyes looked ready to kill.

"This is going to be fun," the blue head smiled to herself, "Hey…_boobs_…you can join in if you want too. I can take you both on."

Orihime didn't even hesitate before she covered the infuriating tease in a purple sphere, levitated it off the ground and lifted it higher and higher.

"W-what are you doing?" Misaki asked, losing her balance and falling on her butt.

Orihime moved Misaki further away from the building. The sphere still floated higher.

"Get me out of here! Jugs, so help me, I will kill you!"

The sphere was then sent flying towards the building at great speed. When it neared the wall, Orihime made the sphere disappear, leaving only Misaki. Misaki was sent flying and crashing in the wall. A scream escaped from her as she hit into it before falling to the ground, knocked out.

Rukia couldn't believe what had just happened. Kisuke's lips twitched. Uryu looked at Orihime wide eyed and Renji wore a huge smile. The bitch deserved that and more.

"Um, excuse me Mr. Kisuke, can you give me that techie thingie? Rukia and I are going on ahead to find Ichigo." She gave him a sweet smile, like she had not just thrown someone in a wall.

Kisuke ran his hand in his hair and smiled, "Okay. Sure." Passing the device to her. "We will catch up with you…we have vermin to take care of."

"Thank you." Orihime said.

Renji dove for one of the guys blocking the door and Kisuke did the same. Once the way was clear, Orihime and Rukia ran through.

The men remained outside, Renji's Zabimaru was retracting and extending as he wished. Kisuke didn't even need to call upon his Shikai, he was just that good and Uryu's spirit bow was ready to fire some arrows. Renji smiled, looking forward to it all.

Fighting never felt so good.

~xoxo~

_A mad man's lair, hidden in a barrier no longer._

If ever there was a time to be scared and pray for a miracle, Ichigo Imagined now would have been it. Because of the powers he didn't even want, powers he was forced to wield, he had become the key to opening some realm he hadn't even know of.

Misaki had left a long time ago and Ichigo was now being tortured with more lies and impossible promises.

The psycho promised him that he might be reunited with his family again, but was the price worth the risk? There had to be some down side to it all…well other than the possibility of him facing certain death.

"Don't think about it too critically Ichigo. It won't hurt…much."

"You won't get away with this. I stopped you once, I can do it again!"

Laughter sounded in the room. "You couldn't stop me, even if you tried."

Ichigo wished he had more leeway to bash his head in the man's face. But the chains gave him no room to move. He couldn't save himself no matter how hard he tried. His powers were suppressed. He hated to admit it, the situation didn't look good. In fact, he knew he was screwed.

The cross Ichigo was secured to started vibrating and blinking red.

"Yes, finally." The man laughed hysterically, "Its time!" he moved closer to Ichigo, the sharp spear griped tightly in his hands. "The future starts…NOW!" The sharp end skewered Ichigo and went through his chest with so much put into it that Ichigo's eyes almost popped out from the contact. The pain almost drove him mad.

"Ahh-" the impaled boy groaned, crimson liquid coating his lips.

"Ichigo!" Rukia and Orihime's voices sounded simultaneously once they ran through the open door and saw the blade in his chest and the blood from his mouth. Ichigo heard them faintly but the pain in his chest was all he could think about. It was excruciating. The world around him became muted.

"Damn…you." He coughed out, blood falling to the old floor. This was seriously messed up.

The mad man's laughter reached the girls' ears. Rukia swore and tears formed in Orihime's eyes. For a second they stood powerless, but only for a second. The pair started running toward the cross, intent on saving their friend.

Rukia's Zanpakutou was gripped in her hands and Orihime wanted to zap the man away with her shield.

Hood grabbed the scythe with his other hand and with the force of a tornado pushed Orihime and Rukia away. The two flew back and crashed in the wall behind. They fell down to the floor, temporarily knocked out. Rukia sprained her ankle and that baby hurt like a bitch. She winced and tried not to let it affect her so much.

"You are already too late. It has already began." More laughter came from the psycho as reddish black energy passed from Ichigo's body and into the spear. It travelled in the cables, made its way to the floor and reached the pillars. The pillars appeared like they were being charged. Electrical sparks shot out and a bright light started coming from the center of the archway.

"Yes. Yes!" he laughed like a man crazed, "Open up. Cover this wretched world in light. Open up!"

The portal was being formed. The doorway was going to be opened.

"No!" Rukia's voice cracked.

Rukia and Orihime were both unable to move. They had to do something before the life was drained out of Ichigo. Orihime had lost consciousness. Rukia on the hand was still lucid but only just. She attempted to stand but the pressure on her foot made her flinch and she fell back to the floor.

Her whole body somehow ached and she tried to drag it on the floor and reach for her sword. The damn thing had dropped too far for her to reach. Damn it!

She had to try something. She aimed her palm at the man who was driving the spear deeper into Ichigo. One hand on the spear the other holding his scythe.

In a shaky low voice she started muttering, "Ye…lord! Mask of flesh…and bone, flutter of…wings, ye who bears…the name of…Man! Truth and temperance, upon this…sinless wall of dreams unleash but slightly the wrath of your claw." She managed to finish the incantation despite the pain she was in, "Hado 33: Sokatsui!"

Blue energy was generated in her palm and she prepared to fire it at the man who definitely had it coming. The energy blasted off and moved to the man who had just speared Ichigo.

"Don't make me laugh." He scoffed.

He raised his scythe again and the blast was swallowed up. It simply just vanished before it hit him. Appearing behind him and blowing the wall away. Light from the outside peered through and the room became lit. All the while the spear was still in Ichigo's chest.

"Ichigo." Renji's voice came. The cavalry had finally arrived. Uryu and Kisuke were right behind him.

It turned out their opponents were nothing more than small fries.

When they set their sights on what was in front of them, the tension in the room multiplied. How had it gotten this bad?

"Yare Yare." Kisuke spoke, the bright archway catching his attention.

"You bastard!" Renji swore when he saw the man and the blade still in Ichigo. He sped off to save his friend. Leaping in the air. "Now Roar. Zabimaru!" His blade shot off at once elongating and moving dangerous in the air. The serrated blades aimed at the evil man but before the red head could do any damage, he was pushed back.

"Renji!" Rukia called out, she felt useless. He ankle throbbing and she once again tried to move.

The tattooed soul reaper hit himself on the roof and fell down as some rubble fell after him. Sprawled out of the floor, he cursed, "Damn…you. I'll kill you!"

Hood spun his scythe once and Renji was send sliding on the floor and to the wall where Rukia and a passed out Orihime were near. The soul reaper smashed in the wall and banged his head, a groan escaped from him and he breathed heavily. One last strained breath escaped him before he lost consciousness.

"It appears we were too late after all." Kisuke spoke.

"Not if I can help it." Uryu formed a spirit bow and swiftly fired hundreds of arrows at the man. But just like with Rukia's Hado, Uryu's arrows vanished into thin air as soon as Hood raised his scythe.

"When will you people realize it's already too late? The doorway is open." The arrows reappeared in front of the man a second later but their direction had changed. They were now coming straight for Uryu.

"Wha-" Uryu's eyes widened. He dodged them all using Hirenkyaku. But the man wasn't done with him yet. The reddish black energy had stopped moving in the cables so the man left Ichigo's side and sped to where Uryu had moved to. He swung his scythe and drove it into Uryu's stomach.

"Ahh-" Uryu groaned. The bloody blade came out through the other and red liquid not only flowed from Uryu's mouth but dripped from his wound down to the floor.

"No!" Rukia watched the scene, forming a lump in her throat. She looked at Ichigo bleeding out and looking paler with each second that passed. Renji was knocked out next to the wall. Orihime was still passed out from her run in with the wall earlier and now Uryu had a scythe tearing at his organs. Was there no end to this?

"I have come such a long way to be stopped now. Least of all, by a Quincy." He spat the last part out. Grabbing at the skeletal handle, he drove it swiftly out of Uryu and kicked him away.

Uryu flew back and hit the far wall. The impact tore at his back and wall debris crumbled down. He coughed once, his mouth blood and then lost consciousness.

"Yare yare." Kisuke walked forward slowly.

"Oh, Kisuke Urahara." Hood turned his attention to the blonde.

"Who do I have the misfortune of addressing?" Kisuke said, moving slowly towards Hood. Reaching for Benihime, he really was not in the mood for a serious fight.

"A misunderstood man, like yourself. A researcher and scientist who the soul society unfairly misjudged"

"Is that so? Scream: Benihime." Kisuke spoke, almost like he was bored. He swung his sword. The crimson-coloured destructive energy blasted out and as the energy flowed out, an arc was fired. It moved swiftly towards Hood.

Hood dodged and the blast blew more of the wall away. "Are you people daft?" he said, "I said, you cannot stop it now."

And just like it was on cue, more light was emitted from the archway and it filled the room as dark shadows started flying out and making their way outside. Some lingered in the room and flew around before they too went out in the same hole that was blasted in the wall.

Strong winds blew in the room and Kisuke planted his feet firmly to the ground. Rukia's short hair blew in her face and she closed her eyes as the wind and electrical sparks started getting to her.

Hood laughed, he could keep it in no longer. He stood with his scythe in the air, not even minding the electrical shots and wind in the room. "Yes. It has already begun!" His laughter could have sent chills down a lesser man's body, but not Kisuke's.

The blonde was not fazed.

Ignoring the nightmarish environment, Kisuke charged for Hood but his scythe was ready for him. The blonde's sword touched Hood's blade and Kisuke immediately dived back-only to charge forward with another attack again. The two went at it. Nothing was held back.

Man against man. Metal against metal. The room was filled with the sound of grunting, heavy breathing and the hitting of cold hard steel against cold hard steel. Kicks were thrown, swipes were dodged. Crimson blasts were fired only to be dodged or made to disappear in thin air. Attacks were side stepped and the two appeared to have been evenly matched because neither had any advantage over the other.

Orihime was gaining consciousness and a sigh of relief escaped Rukia's mouth.

"Orihime…"

"Rukia…" the busty girl's voice came off low and somewhat throaty, she looked around the room and tears filled her already red eyes.

The torrential wind was reducing and the room was slowly getting back to normal but her hair still blew in the air-forming a mess of orange on her face. She moved the hair off her face and noticed the black stuff flying out of the archway and a shiver went down her body. She saw Kisuke and Hood going at it like they were gladiators in a coliseum. Neither man was holding anything back.

All her friends were wounded and Rukia was holding on to her ankle like it was on fire.

"A-are you okay?" Orihime asked.

"My ankle. But I will be okay. Forget about me for now. Go and heal Uryu and Ichigo." Rukia said. She intended it to come off caring but it sounded more like an order. Renji would probably just wake up with a headache but she was certain he was okay. Uryu and Ichigo didn't look good. They needed immediate help.

Ignoring the fighting for a second, Orihime moved her sore body towards Rukia. Ichigo's body was further than Uryu's or Rukia's and Orihime didn't want to have to choose so she concentrated on helping those that were near. She wasn't strong enough to produce more than two healing domes.s

A Purple dome formed around Uryu's flaccid body where he lay bleeding on the cold hard floor and a smaller one appeared on Rukia's leg. Her power had really improved; she no longer had to place her hands on the patients. Just thinking about who she wanted to heal was all that was needed.

A trail of blood formed on Orihime's face. She had a cut on her forehead.

"Orihime…" Rukia started when she saw the red liquid flowing, "You might want to cover your forehead under a dome too."

The sound of metal hitting metal was still echoing in the room. But at least the wind had stopped and there were no more shadowy things flying around the room or coming out through the light.

Orihime sheepishly wiped the blood away with the back of her hand, "Um, it's okay. I will be fine." She gave a weak smile to reassure her friend.

"That cut looks pretty bad."

"I-I can't heal myself." Orihime pulled the scarf tighter around her neck and fidgeted with her fingers as she tried to concentrate on the healing process.

"What do you mean?" Rukia pried.

"Um-well, I have tried healing myself after these new powers came but I can't." she said, her voice low, "I can heal everybody else but just not myself."

Rukia looked at her friend for a second then placed her hands on Orihime's, "That's okay. We just have to make sure you never get hurt." She gave a weak smile, shifted her body and her leg didn't hurt any more.

Wow Orihime's healing sure had gotten better.

"Ichigo…" Rukia uttered and Orihime knew. There was no way he could hold on much longer, she had to rush to him now.

"Enough!" they heard Hood's voice and the two females spun their heads to investigate. Kisuke appeared to have been winning and both girls smiled. Orihime got up and limped to Ichigo. He looked so pale. She hoped she wasn't too late.

Back to the men that were engrossed in battle, the atmosphere was intense. The pair looked at each like they meant business. Which, judging from how they stood and held their blade, they probably did.

"Bravo Kisuke." Hood's voice came out breathless and rugged. "It appears you've still got it."

Kisuke smiled and scratched the back of his head like a goof. "You think so? I've been out of practice for a long time."

Really? At a time like this, the two even had time to smile and complement each other. What the actual hell?

Kisuke didn't wait for a response before he soared forth, blade at the ready and prepared to end the fight.

Hood spun his blade once, doing a full 360 and bent one knee. He was ready for this. "Why don't you go…and sell some…candy!" his voice thundered and Urahara vanished into thin air. His presence was gone and a gasp escaped from Rukia's mouth.

She swiftly got to her feet, did a mad dash and reached for her sword.

"Tsugi no mai, Hakuren!" Rukia pierced the ground and an ice circle formed. Quickly after that she pierced the ground 4 times in a semicircle. She took a battle stance and ice particles were released from the tip of her Zanpakutou. Anything in their path was going to be frozen…instantaneously.

Damn. The bastard got away.

Hood disappeared and reappeared behind her, she sensed him before his blade materialized and punctured her back. Rukia sidestepped the attack and swung her blade, determined to cut him where he stood.

The swing of her blade caught the man off guard but he managed to dodge. Throwing his head back and in the process his hood rode off his head. She prepared to stab his chest and pushed with everything she had. This ends now.

When the man straightened Rukia saw his face and her breath caught. Her sword stopped midair and she couldn't deal that much needed final blow. No. No. No. This could not be. Her body went numb.

"K-kaien…" Rukia's voice was hardly audible.

The black haired man smirked. His familiar aqua green eyes pierced her and she almost forgot how to breathe. Her knees went weak and she slumped down. In the next instant he was gone. Vanished like Kisuke just some moments ago.

Rukia sat on the floor feeling like she had just seen a ghost…well in all honesty, she kind of had. She became oblivious to everything in the room. How was Kaein alive? Why was he doing this? She didn't even notice that Renji had started waking up or that Orihime was already working on Ichigo.

The busty healer had managed to unbind him and the orange haired boy now lay on the ground, a purple dome surrounding him. A brighter purple light was emanating from the wound in his chest. Orihime wasn't sure if it was her doing or just Ichigo's will to keep fighting and stay alive but the boy's eyes started twitching and he appeared to be getting some colour in him. The paleness was slowly going away and he started opening his eyes.

"O-ori…hime-" His voice was so low it came off more like a whisper.

A smile formed on Orihime's face when his hand started reaching up to her. She helped him up, his chest completely healed and not even a scar remained. She saw that he wanted to stand up and she obliged. For some reason his feet felt weak and in his attempt to get up using Orihime for support he pulled at her scarf and the piece of clothing dropped to the ground.

Orihime's face reddened and she struggled to help support him. Desperately wanting to quickly pick up the scarf and cover her neck. However, it was too late. Ichigo might have been a bit out of it but he saw it as clear as day. The bite mark on her neck was healing but Ichigo knew what it was. He looked at her reddened face and his own turned white.

No. This can't be.

"I-its o-okay Ichigo." She assured him, though her stutter told him otherwise.

Why couldn't it just have been a dream? He remembered the sewer. The flashback blew his mind. He remembered it like it had just happened an hour ago.

_She fought against his kiss and tried to talk to him._

"_Ich-Ichigo…stop! This is going too fast."_

"_Shh…" he said as he once again dove in for a kiss. He held on to her waist even harder._

"_I said stop!" Orihime pulled away from him. _

_She put up her protective dome and when it zapped away Ichigo's hands from her waist she quickly rolled off him._

"_I have wanted to do that for a very…very long time." He turned his head slowly to her side._

_Ichigo laughed at her as she looked at him with shocked eyes._

"_Now come on, queen, let the king have some fun." Ichigo said with a crazed grin on his face._

_Orihime got up. She looked down at him and could not believe what she was hearing or seeing._

"_This-this isn't ha-happening." The shocked Orihime stammered._

_Ichigo gave out a diabolical laugh. Its crazed sound echoing in the sewers and making Orihime even more freaked out._

_It was good to be king._

_He got up faster than Orihime could see and before she could react, he had her pinned to the cold wall…her hands places high above her head. His lips claimed hers again but Orihime moved her head before he could deepen the kiss. This made his mouth slip and make contact with her neck. He 'accidentally' bruised her neck with his teeth and blood started slipping out._

_He looked at the bite mark and a crazy grin formed on his face, "That's gonna leave a mark." _

It came back to him, all of it. It hadn't been a dream after all. He had indeed attacked her that time in the sewers. He wanted to blame his hollow but was that crazy bastard even able to still take over his body?

How could he live with himself? Why was she still being nice to him? He had almost…he had…

Damn it.

"Rukia! Ichigo!" Renji said as he saw that they were all okay. He quickly rushed to Rukia's side when he noticed the confused state she was in. "Hey, Rukia…are you okay?" he shook her but she kept staring in open space.

The air in the room became hard to take in. They all felt like they were in a vacuum despite the walls being riddled with blasted in holes.

Ichigo got even whiter as realization of what he had almost done to Orihime hit him. He didn't even notice that Rukia stood on the floor in a stupor.

Was there no end to the torture? On top of all that, there were flying shadowy creature from a different world running amok out there. Doing heaven knows what?

Ichigo felt small.

~xoxo

**Authors note: **So I guess hooded man isn't Aizen, huh?

Zangetsu is back in business next chapter (excited). You have got to let me know what you thought of this chapter. I would appreciate it.

21


	13. Of meat suits and onyx eyes

_Urahara's store, Karakura town_

Ichigo didn't think it was possible to smell emotions. He didn't believe he could sense just how deep in the darkness people can actually go before it became difficult to pull them out. As he sat in a room in Urahara's store, surrounded by his friends, all he could smell was despair. No one was talking, no one was smiling. They just sat there…faces down and fists clenched.

He hated it.

After the doorway opened and Hood got away, the world felt like it had stopped spinning. At least for Ichigo. The walls felt like they were closing in on him. Suffocating him. He felt sick. He felt evil. He had actually attacked Orihime in the sewers. Why couldn't it all have just been a nightmare?

When they'd left the old building, they didn't find Misaki outside. Hood must have taken her. Thinking about Misaki just made him livid. Backstabbing soul reaper. How could she?

Ichigo didn't feel like being in the Soul Society anymore, the shadowy creatures were nowhere to be seen. The portal was being monitored by the Kido corps and they were working around the clock to contain it. With some luck, no more unwanted visitors would be coming out of there anytime soon. The Head Captain had allowed him to leave and live, the damage was already done. Killing him wasn't going to solve anything. For some reason, they didn't even ask him to act as a key and close the archway up. Wouldn't it have been more productive and helpful if they just closed that thing up before more harm was done?

Captain Soi Fon was still on the hunt for Captain Hitsugaya. Ichigo had to admit the woman didn't know the word _quit. _ So far his whereabouts were still unknown though. That some good news at least. Ichigo couldn't live with himself if Toshiro was punished because of him.

When he told everyone that Hood was Aizen, no one believed him. They assured him that the crazy immortal was still in the deepest, darkest prison. There was no getting out for him. Ichigo was confused. He was sure the face he had seen had been Aizen's. Just what the heck was going on?

Rukia had been distraught after her encounter with Hood and she wasn't talking. Part of him thought she wasn't even listening. She hadn't even come back to Karakura town with him. It upset him that this was what the psycho bastard was doing to his friends. He needed to be stopped.

When he had gotten back to the world of the living and found out that Hood had transported Kisuke back there, the first place Ichigo went to was home. He had to know his family was okay. They were all doing fine. Chad was still nowhere to be found. The hollow attacks had minimized drastically though. Captain Kurotsuchi's barriers were still working and though they didn't fix the torn veils completely, they aided in minimizing on the hollow attacks. For the time being, the people of Karakura town were safe. Safe from hollow attacks, that is. There wasn't much anyone could do to protect them from the darkness within themselves.

Ichigo knew all too well about battling the darkness within oneself. Maintaining control and not letting the dark consume him was something he had experience with.

The veil on hell, however, had everyone worried; the world of the living was being contaminated by hell's presence and people were really causing panic in the streets. Their powers manifesting and them developing worrying abilities was cause for even more panic. Most were still trying to adjust to suddenly being able to see masked beasts.

There was a period when the streets where full of looters and violence but the soul reapers had come on the scene and helped maintain an ounce of order. All that, plus the opening of the unknown realm was the reason why everyone was gloomy and felt somewhat defeated.

Ichigo had been told about the land of the leviathans and how he had powers and presence in all the realms. It upset him even more. Damn it all. He didn't ask for this.

He had even bigger problems; his first kiss came about because he had been too weak to fight the darkness of his hollow self and planted one right on Orihime. To make matters worse, he had handled her with too much force and craziness. He cursed himself for it. How is it that she didn't hate him? He hated himself.

"So, what now?" Renji's voice finally broke into the silence and every low-spirited person in the room raised their head and looked at him. Ichigo wasn't shocked that Renji would still have it in him to push forward. He felt pathetic for the way he was feeling. Uryu had recovered completely thanks to Orihime yet he kept quiet through it all.

Orihime. Ichigo thought about her and a knot formed in his throat. Damn it. Will that image ever go away?

"Well, once the Kido corps have stabilized the portal we can close it up permanently but before that, we have to make sure that all the escaped leviathans are…taken care of." Kisuke said as he sipped on some tea, "We just have to find them first."

"How do you suggest we do that?" Renji asked, "Because unless I'm mistaken we can't pick up on their presence either in the world of the living or the soul society. How do we find something we can't sense?"

"I have no idea."

"Um… how sure are we that those black things were the leviathans?" Orihime said, "What if they were just souls getting out?"

Ichigo heard her voice and couldn't even face her. He just kept his head down.

"Yeah." Renji agreed, "If the levia-things are supposed to be dangerous shouldn't the world be experiencing some kind of apocalyptic event. It just seems too normal and too quiet."

"Don't let this quietness fool you. We are hardly out of dangerous waters yet. This is just the calm before the storm." Kisuke explained.

The room got quiet as everyone wondered just what was to come. Ichigo especially.

"So what, we just sit here like a bunch of losers while that psycho does more harm?" Ichigo voiced his opinion. His crossed legs and hard facial expression letting everyone know just what he thought of their plan. "We can't just sit around."

"We know that Ichigo." Renji said.

"Is that so? Because it seems to me like you guys are happy with just sitting around here sipping tea and looking like it's a funeral."

They didn't understand how Ichigo felt; he blamed himself. Because of him that hooded bastard had managed to open that damned door and now who knew what was to come. They had to do something before it was too late.

'Ichigo…" Orihime said, her voice so low.

He didn't look her way but he could feel her eyes on him. Damn it! Why wasn't it all just a bad dream? He wished he could look in her big eyes and not feel shame and anger towards himself for being weak.

"I will not let any more innocent people get hurt." He gritted his teeth as his nostrils flared.

"I'll second that." A feminine voice came from the open sliding door.

Ichigo lifted his head. "Yoruichi…" Ichigo stared at the purple-haired woman, glad that she almost always made her appearances in human form now. He remembered the first time she'd transformed from her feline form and stood in front of him in all her naked glory. Damn it. What a perverted way to think of it. Naked glory? Goddammit.

"I have some bad news." She said as she walked in the room and leaned against one of the walls so that all eyes were on her. She had her arms folded and when she was sure everyone was attentive, she continued, "I've been going around the town and there are many reports of human disappearances. At first I thought they might just be casualties due to the hollow attacks but many eye witnesses are claiming that they saw black smoke entering people before they simply vanished…leaving nothing but their clothes behind."

"What do you mean?" Ichigo couldn't understand what he was hearing.

"I think the shadow entities you guys saw coming out of the archway have made it into the human world and are now consuming humans. I'm sure they're worse than hollows."

Worse than hollows? What the actual hell?

Just how bad was it going to get before they got a break? All this bad and losing was really pissing Ichigo off.

"So, what do we-" Ichigo was cut off as a large rumbling sound followed by earth-shattering vibration was heard and felt. The room started shaking and it looked like the roof would come crashing down on them all.

"What the hell?" Ichigo looked at his friends as they all stood up. Grabbing their shoes, they all ran outside. Jinta and Ururu were already outside when the others made it there. Was there no end to the surprises?

"What's going on now?" Renji asked and Ichigo couldn't have thought of a better question himself.

Looking up in the sky, none of them could believe what they were seeing. Or maybe they just didn't want to. There were Garganta like openings in the sky. Only they were bigger and less menacing. Everyone could see them the in clear blue sky. In them they could see the soul society and what Ichigo concluded was Hueco Mundo and the hell verse. One of the small openings showed a place Ichigo could not recognize but if what he had heard so far was anything to go by, he was going to guess that it was the beast realm.

The veils were completely disintegrating and the different worlds appeared to be merging. It did not look good.

"Oh boy." Yoruichi stood with her hand on her hip. Ichigo knew a rough road was ahead for all of them. He just wasn't sure if he was ready to take a step in that direction.

"Remember that storm I told you guys about?" Kisuke looked up at the sky and then at the fighters around him, "I think it's about to begin, say goodbye to the calm."

~xoxo~

_Soul Society_

The ground in the Seireitei shook and rumbled. All those who were standing staggered and almost toppled.

"What in the hell?" Ikkaku said as he tried to balance himself. He looked up. He had been sparring off with his best friend when he felt the ground tremble. He saw the sky open up to reveal the human world and Hueco Mundo.

"That sounds about right. Unless I'm mistaken, that is hell we are seeing up there in one of those openings." Yumichika said when his gaze followed Ikkaku's.

They both jumped on the roof to get a better look. "This does not look good." The bald soul reaper commented.

"It's about to get a whole lot worse." Yumichika said when he saw the many Hollows that were now making their way into the Soul Society from Hueco Mundo.

The familiar alarm went off and its equally familiar voice telling all the members of the 13 Court Guard Squads of the breach followed thereafter.

"Do you still have energy for what's to come?" Ikkaku faced the man by his side. He was wearing his famous I-am-about-to-do-some-major-butt-kicking smile and he needed his friend to be on board with it.

"You know I do." Yumichika gripped his Zanpakutou and took a battle position.

"Extend. Hozukimaru!" Ikkaku said as he soared for the first hollow he saw. A crazy grin on his face and his spear Zanpakutou gripped firmly in his hands.

It was a great day for a work out.

~xoxo~

_Central 46 meeting, Soul society_

"Head Captain Yamamoto, the situation has become dire. This calls for desperate measures." A member of Central 46 said.

"I understand the situation better than all of you. We must do what we must…there is no time for second thoughts." The old Captain's voice resounded. He knew just how much chaos was to come if the veils were not mended. He should have acted sooner.

"Is it really him?" a female voice asked. "We may not have met him personally but we have heard the stories and read the Central 46 records. The former central 46 were thorough in their reports. Has he finally made his move?"

"It appears so. After all these years, Usui Kazehaya finally made his return." Yamamoto said, feeling upset about the fact that the man actually had the audacity to wreak such havoc. He may have adopted the Hood persona but the Head Captain wasn't fooled. He knew who the man in the hood was-Usui Kazehaya. He knew all too well just how far the man called Kazehaya could go. "It appears he is still holding a grudge with the soul society and the world."

"How do we stop it? Your Soul reapers failed to capture the human abomination before this disaster occurred and now the gateway is open. They failed. Now, unless we are mistaken, the key can only be used once-To open the realm but not to close it up again. So, how do we stop the realms from colliding and destroying us all in the impact?"

The Head Captain held on to his staff as he listened to their worries. He had them too. There was too much at stake.

"It is like you said, the situation calls for desperate measures." The head Captain said. Now was a time to make hard decisions and not falter. The decision was final. "There is a way to minimize the casualties and stop this apocalypse."

"What choices do we have?"

"We have no choice but to use the Kido Canon. It must be fired straight into the open archway and destroy the land of the leviathans and all those who have been tainted by their evil. Karakura town has been tainted and must also face destruction." Yamamoto looked up and faced them head on. Such words could not be said follow ed by showing weakness.

They all looked at him in silence and he looked back at them, unyielding. They all knew just how Karakura town was when it came to attracting hollows and other spiritual pressure loving creatures. The leviathans had all gathered there. The town had to be blasted off the face of the world. If the contamination spread, balance would be lost and it would mean death…to all.

"Is the decision unanimous then?" A cold harsh voice asked. All 46 men and women nodded in agreement. This Central 46 was just as strict and unwavering as the old. The Head Captain knew that they would all agree to the measures taken to save the worlds.

Karakura town was a small sacrifice when compared to how many lives would be saved.

~xoxo~

_Outside Urahara's store, Karakura town_

Ichigo and his friends had their hands busy with trying to rid the town of the hollows that were now roaming the streets. When the sky opened up and Hueco Mundo was seen, hundreds of hollows started making their way into the world of the living.

Ichigo was glad that despite the spear that Hood had pierced in his chest and used his powers to open up the archway, he still maintained his abilities. He was putting his twin war cleavers to good use and cutting down any hollow he saw. When he had returned to Karakura town, he had gotten enough rest and was now fully pumped and giving this battle everything he had.

Renji was in the far distance. He was in the air and dismembering the hollows in his path with his peculiar serrated Zanpakutou that kept extending and retracting as he willed it. Limps and heads were dropping to the ground before they dissipated entirely.

Uryu was on Ichigo's right and had no problem finishing off dozens of hollows at once with his spirit arrows and bow. They shot out in numbers and any hollow that was hit was instantaneously killed off. That was the power of the Quincy.

Kisuke and Yoruichi were both up in the sky hovering as they fought, much like Renji and none of the hollows they encountered gave them any problems. They were expert fighters and deadly when the need arose. Ichigo had seen them in action first hand, had been trained by them to become the warrior he now was; he felt pity for anyone unfortunate enough to battle either Kisuke or the purple haired lean woman.

The one person, who he was aware of, who was stalking his mind, was the one person he didn't want to be thinking about. The tricky part was that she was fighting on his left. Covered in a purple protective barrier that nothing could penetrate and firing projectiles to maim and kill the hollows that were underestimating her and attacking her in swarms. Orihime sure had advanced in her fighting style. The girl she was now was nothing like the timid girl she used to be who couldn't even hurt a fry. He had to give her that.

"Just how many of them will we have to kill?" Renji asked as he cut down one humanoid hollow.

Ichigo had just been wondering the same thing. Well, the time when the curvy girl wasn't flooding his mind. He really had to be focused.

"It looks like Hueco Mundo is being emptied." Uryu fired some more arrows as he spoke, "The rise in the towns spiritual energy must be attracting them here more than usual. This doesn't look good." he switched the direction his bow was facing and fired even more blue-white deadly arrows.

Ichigo had to admit it was a very bad situation. If the people couldn't fight back, it would have been even worse. But as it was now, with the people's new abilities, those who were brave enough to stand up to a hollow were standing their ground and actually killing some.

"For crying out loud!" Ichigo looked up at the sky where black smoke figures were flying around.

His first guess was leviathans… and he knew he was right. They started descending and entering the mouths of the people that were brave enough not to lock themselves up indoors. As soon as one was completely swallowed up, the human shook furiously and then just vanished, leaving nothing but the clothes they wore. Then the dark smoke would move on to the next people.

He had been too busy looking at the confusing scene that was happening that he lost sight of the other creatures that were terrorizing the town. A shark-head hollow swung a sharp hand for him and the impact resulted in his left shoulder being viciously wounded. Blood splattered to the ground.

"Damn it!" He swore as he dove away from it and then charged for it. He swung his right arm and cut it down. Another one was about to do a surprise attack on him and he was about to turn.

"Reign over the frosted heavens. Hyorinmaru!" The hollow was frozen solid. And Ichigo's lips curved into a smile. He looked up in the sky and he was glad he had friends who had his back.

"Toshiro." Ichigo said.

The white haired Captain was with his Lieutenant and she quickly switched into battle mode as she leapt to take care of hollows of her own. How come Rukia hadn't come with them? Was she still in shock? Hitsugaya moved his sword in the air and moved to cut the hollow to his left. The hollow was done for and he didn't even break a sweat. That was the power of a captain of the Thirteen Court Guard Squads.

"How many times do I have to tell you? It's Captain Hitsugaya." His features were stern and he looked down to where Ichigo was standing. Some things just never changed but Ichigo was glad to see the young Captain. So, he had evaded execution. How had he done it? "It appears the situation here is just as bad as the Soul Society."

Ichigo highly doubted it. Unless the Soul Society was being attacked by hollows and having innocent people being finished off by black flying smoke, there was no way that they had it similar.

"How is the soul society holding up?" Renji shouted his question out.

"Not good. We have a huge problem and not even my boobs can get us out of this fix boys." the response came from Rangiku. Three hollows surrounded her, they were all bigger than her and looked frightening to a lesser female but she wasn't fazed. She was a trained warrior, "Growl. Haineko." Her Zanpakutou transformed into deadly ash-like blades. She flicked the hilt and the hollows stood no chance. The ash engulfed all three hollows and the hollows where killed. Ichigo always saw Rangiku's weapon like a lesser Senbonzakura. But it was still something not to be taken lightly. The ash cut down anything it touched.

"Yeah, we can see. The hollows have kind of given us a clue." Uryu said. "We're in trouble."

"It's bigger than that, four-eyes." she used her mind to control the deadly ash and it killed off some more hollows, "The Head Captain has given an order to prepare the Kido canon. It will be fired into the open portal so that the new realm can be destroyed. Blown up like it never existed."

Ichigo heard that and felt like it was good news. What was the catch?

"Rangiku, I feel like there is a 'but' coming up after that." Ichigo said as he flew towards a spider hollow and beheaded it without wavering. Her hesitance after his statement only confirmed what he suspected. Some bad news was about to follow.

Captain Hitsugaya stopped his fight and stood for a second, he looked at Ichigo seriously before he said anything, "He has ordered that Karakura town be destroyed as well."

"WHAT?!" Ichigo felt his heart sink and bile started rising up his gullet. It made him sick. That couldn't be right. The Head Captain couldn't be that barbaric. It was inhumane killing off people in a whole town. "We have to stop it. Don't tell me you are all on board with this."

Uryu had stopped producing arrows long enough to look at Toshiro. He was obviously as dumbfounded as Ichigo. "We can't let that happen."

"That's just crazy." Renji put in his opinion. "They can't do that. What is the Head Captain thinking? There are innocent women and children in this town."

"According to word in the squads, this town has been contaminated and to save more lives this has to be done." Hitsugaya said but Ichigo could hear the reservation in his voice. The young Captain also didn't agree with the order. "That's all I know and that it's final."

"Bullshit!" he swore. The soul society disgusted him. "That is murder and you know it."

The people of the town had to be saved. There had to be a way to reverse the effects of that first surge of spiritual energy without killing anyone. It wasn't their fault that a mad man had messed with their lives. They didn't deserve to be killed. He thought of his family and his knees grew weak. Poor innocent Yuzu and Karin and his silly dad didn't deserve this.

"I have to check on my family." He finally said. With everything that was going on, he couldn't trust that they were completely safe. Hollows were one thing, the leviathans he did not want to risk. How does one defend against something that is neither solid nor liquid?

"Go." Uryu told him as he once again started killing off hollows. "We have it covered here."

"I'm coming with you." The sweet voice of Orihime reached him and as Ichigo saw the expression on Uryu's face change all he could do was face down. Could he really allow her to go with him? How sure was he that he wouldn't hurt her again, or worse?

"It's okay, Orihime." His voice came out low, "I'll be fine."

"I know, but I'm still coming with you." She clearly wasn't going to take no for an answer as she moved to his size. He didn't dare look at her but he knew she was staring at him. She could feel it. Ichigo thought about standing his ground and telling her 'no' but then Renji also offered.

"So am I." he smiled at Ichigo, "You know, so I can keep you from doing something stupid or getting yourself killed."

"I don't need a damn body guard!" He retorted.

"Tell that to your bleeding shoulder." The redhead switched his gaze and stared at Ichigo's bleeding shoulder. Then his smile grew bigger.

"Screw you. Whatever." He finally gave in. They had to hurry. "Let's just go." He started running towards his house and Orihime and Renji were right behind him.

The Soul Society had lost its mind and was actually going to bomb a town. That was something that could make anyone switch sides. He thought about his friends and family. He thought about all the other innocent people and he knew the Kido canon had to be destroyed somehow.

But first he had his family to think of.

xoxo~

_A cave shrouded with a barrier._

"Oh wow, just awesome." Misaki grumbled as she looked at the surroundings she was in, "This is what we are reduced to now…living like pigs." The cave was clammy and smelled of bats and shrooms. There was green moss hanging on the walls and in the really moist parts fungi grew like it was the freaking shroom valley.

"Don't exaggerate, Misaki." The man called Kazehaya said as he took a seat on one of the many boulders in the cave. His scythe was resting by the right cave wall. "This is just a temporary setback but believe me when I say everything else is going according to plan." A leer formed on his face and Misaki couldn't help but notice how he looked so much like a black haired Ichigo.

"So, what now?" she kicked a large spider away and folded her arms, "My cover is blown, I can't feed you with any more information from the 13 Court Guard Squads"

"At this point, I don't need you to. I know exactly what that old man will do. As we speak he is probably asking his squads to begin emergency procedures and taking the most desperate of actions. He will be forced to use the Kido canon to destroy the land of the Leviathans." He sounded so sure of himself. Misaki had to wonder.

"How do you know this?" Misaki looked intently at the man currently looking like a Shiba.

"Because I know him. I know how he thinks and it is what I would have also done…under different circumstances."

"That's great and all but what does that mean for us?" She wasn't just going to sit around and wait until the Soul society got away with it again. They were not going to win this time. Not when she was so close to righting all the things that were wrong with this wretched world. Hood looked too comfortable for her liking.

Yeah, she was going to keep referring to him as Hood. It sounded better to her than Kazehaya. There was a time when she thought of him like a father. To be honest, she kind of still did because heaven knew she needed a father figure in her life. He had been there for her when no one else was and she loved him.

He smirked in her direction as he ran his hand through his black mane, "You don't really think I'm wearing this gorgeous face for nothing, do you? Like I said…everything is going according to plan. This face will get me everything I need. Love is such a dangerous emotion."

That was comforting. She liked the sound of that. She liked it a lot.

"By the way," She cleared her throat and looked at him with an upset expression," were you really going to chop of my head that time you were fighting with the Strawberry?" She had to ask. His scythe had come dangerously close to her neck for her to not get curious.

"Who?" he looked genuinely confused as his forehead furrowed.

"Ichigo. You were using me as a human shield and threatened to kill me if he didn't listen. The time we were in that crazy scientist's lab."

He flinched. "Oh Misaki" Shaking his head and looking hurt. He jumped off from the boulder where he was perched and as soon as his feet touched the ground, he started walking towards her. His gloved hand touched her cheek and he smiled. It oozed of care and all the things Misaki knew the world took from her.

"I would never hurt you. We needed to sell the act and if he suspected for a second that you weren't who you said you were, all our plans would have been ruined. Would you have lived with yourself if everything we have worked for, for so long, got ruined because we went at it half way? Mm?"

Misaki didn't want to think of failure. She leaned her face into his hand and felt comfort. "No. It would have destroyed me. This has to work."

"And it will." He gave a gentle peck on her forehead and moved away to grab his scythe, "Whichever way this goes, our plan will open everyone's eyes. Then Soul Society will crumble." He turned to look at her and the smile on his face left no room for doubt in Misaki's mind. He was certain of the outcome.

"So when do I get to meet a badass leviathan? Thanks to that big breasted bitch that knocked me out, I missed all the good parts." Misaki asked. She imagined they were some badasses and she wanted to see one in action.

"All in due time, my sweet." He said and she wrinkled her nose at the mention of her as his s_weet_, she wasn't a fucking kid anymore. "For now, the people of Karakura town have their hands busy with these…badasses. I have told you before. They cannot materialize in the world of the living so they have to take possession of human bodies. I imagine they are going through bodies looking for the right ones. Trust me, once they find vessels strong enough to house their power, you will definitely meet one."

"Nice." Misaki couldn't wait. She had to meet and thank the beings that would eventually help her get everything she had ever wanted since she met her savior.

"But until then, you and I have a date at the Kuchiki Manor." He held out his hand for her to take, "Shall we?"

She gave him one of her smirks and took his hand.

~xoxo~

_The Kurosaki household, Karakura Town._

"Yuzu! Karin!" Ichigo budged into the house, breathless and panting like a dog. He frantically started searching like a mad man. Orihime and Renji right behind him. He prayed they were all okay. He didn't know how he would react if anything happened to them.

He was about to run upstairs when he saw Karin standing on the top most step, her head cocked and her dark tresses covering her face.

"Karin?" Ichigo started running up, two steps at a time. He was about to crouch down and take her in his arms when her small fist crashed into his face and he was sent flying back-blood splashing from his cut lip. Damn, beaten up by his little sis.

"Ichigo!" Orihime tried to stop his fall but she was too slow. He hit the bottom really hard and the floorboards smashed. He grunted as the pain seared in him.

Renji rushed to Ichigo's side on the smashed floorboards and put out his hand to help his friend out. Ichigo took it. Damn.

"Karin, what're you doing?" Getting back on his feet, he asked, "Where's Yuzu? Where's dad?" He wiped the blood from his lip.

The girl at the top of the stairs gave out a laugh so alien it came out like a screech. "I'm afraid Karin is no longer here." The voice sounded like Karin's but it wasn't completely hers because when she spoke, the words were said by two voices. The familiar one of his sister and a shrill one that made Ichigo's skin crawl. It reminded him of how people described his voice when he was in his hollow form. It unnerved him.

The girl lifted her arm slowly and used her hand to move the black hair from her face. It was then that Ichigo saw her eyes. There were no whites present anymore. Only pitch black pools stared back at him and he knew without any doubt that his sister's body housed something else, something dark and ominous.

"Karin…" he almost slumped back to the ruined floor. He was too late.

"Not anymore." The piercing voice mixed with his sister's reached his ears again. He hated that sound. He hated those eyes. He hated everything that was going on.

"Get your vile self out of my sister's body!" He leapt up the stairs. What exactly could he do? He couldn't exactly punch the intruder without harming his sister's body.

"Get out of your sister's body?" she laughed, "Yeah, I kinda like this meat suit,"

Shit! Damn it! What should he do? He was heading straight for her?

This was one pickle Ichigo didn't appreciate being in.

The leviathan must have guessed what he was thinking and his sister's face twisted into a disturbing smile. Her white teeth showing, it pissed off Ichigo even more. There was no time for him to duck or avoid the attack that was to come.

Dark Karin parted her legs in a battle stance before she jumped in the air and dealt Ichigo one mean round house kick straight to the gut. As Ichigo went flying off to the far wall and crashed painfully into it, she landed on the hard floor in a low crouch. Her hands were on the floor in front of her, with one leg straight and almost meeting the ground while the other was bent at the knee. She looked straight at the mess she had made and gave a wicked smile. She lifted herself swiftly and stood up straight before she turned back and ran.

Ichigo leapt to his feet and ran after her. "Damn it, stop!' he commanded as he tried to keep up, maneuvering his way in the passageway. "Yuzu…" He found his sweet innocent sister passed out in the passage. "Orihime, please look after her." He shouted out. Knowing that she was right behind him, together with Renji.

His ran after dark Karin, straight to the twin's bedroom "Give me back my sister!" But he was too late, she jumped out the window and landed safely on the ground before she leapt onto the nearest roof and kept on running and jumping from roof to roof until she disappeared entirely.

"KARIN!" No. this wasn't how it was supposed to go. His sister was innocent.

His world suddenly became dark. He needed more strength than he possessed. He screamed out with everything he had and the familiar color of red and black started oozing out of him. It surrounded him and he screamed some more.

"Ichigo, calm down." Renji tried to penetrate his dark thoughts but Ichigo thought only of his sister-Her body being possessed by some evil ancient creature from another world. Ichigo let go of everything.

The Soul Society was planning on obliterating an entire town, killing thousands of innocent people. He didn't even know how long they had. The people of Karakura town were fighting each other and now his family was put in the middle of all of it. What sane person wouldn't let all that get to him? What man wouldn't want to do everything in his power to save his loved ones?

His spikey orange hair grew longer as it draped down to his back and a white mask and horns appeared on his head. The dark hole present on all hollows appeared on his chest and his scream became a high-pitched howl.

A hollow now stood in the bedroom by the window and its growl penetrated all who heard. Hollow Ichigo wasn't holding anything back. Between his horns a cero started being formed. The crimson colors of it make the small room glow. It was foreboding.

Woe to anyone who dared to stand in his way.

~xoxo~

**Author's Note: **So yeah, I know I'm beyond late with this one. A huge sorry to those that are still reading this fic and a HUGE "Thank You" to **ElevatedJewel…your reviews and support with each of my chapters really help move this story forward**. Its great knowing someone is enjoying my story. To the guest reviewers, thanks a bunch too .

I hope you like what I did in this chapter (despite the plot holes lol).

**What do you think of the Captain's decision to destroy Karakura Town?**

17


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